Huntresses of a Shattered Dimension
by Eldenwind
Summary: The multiverse is a large place, and sometimes weird things happen. Like a team of Huntresses getting sent into a whole other dimension where completely different rules apply. What kind of chaos will the girls cause? How will the powers that be handle this? And will they ever get back home? Only time will tell... maybe we can ask Cobray?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

The scientists bustled around the massive chamber, frantically preparing for the upcoming experiment on an enormous ring shaped object that lay within.

Two men were overseeing the work, one a tall man with spiky light grey hair, the other a slightly shorter man with blue hair. The grey haired man wore a high collared white shirt and had a slightly unpleasant look to him. The blue haired man was clad in a lab coat.

"Finally the preparations are almost complete." The blue haired man spoke up excitedly. "We would never have made it this far without your support Mr. Steinbeck."

"Think nothing of it Professor Radcliffe, I am a patron of the sciences, and when I heard of your discovery I knew that it would be worth my while." The white haired man replied.

"Preparations complete, test commencing in T minus Five minutes." A voice rang out through the facility. Professor Radcliffe tensed in anticipation and worry, it was finally time to see if his hypothesis had been correct. Finally time to see if they could activate the ring.

"Test commencing in T minus, 4, 3, 2, 1… Test commencing." The voice announced as a hum filled the air while various instruments started monitoring the object.

A smirk crept up Steinbeck's face as energy surged through the massive ring, a blue light materialising inside it.

Several "Ohhs" and "Ahhs" could be heard as the scientist stared at it in wonder.

_**-Break—**_

Team RWBY plopped down underneath a tree in exhaustion after a long, tiring training session.

"Phew, that was a nice workout." Yang said, still somewhat chipper despite her exhaustion.

"Why did I agree to this?" Weiss panted out laboriously as she stared up at the blue sky.

"We need this to keep ourselves in good condition and our teamwork in good order." Blake said matter-of-factly as she leaned back against the tree trunk.

"Yeah! How are we supposed to keep kicking butt if we don't keep training?" Ruby said excitedly, somehow still energetic.

"How can you still have any energy left? We worked ourselves to the ground." Weiss said unhappily as she turned her head to regard their leader. But something caught her eye, a glimmer in the sky that wasn't supposed to be there.

"What's that?" Yang wondered out loud, having noticed it as well.

They all looked up in wonder as the glimmering grew stronger, until suddenly in a bright flash of light a massive ring like object appeared in the sky.

"The Hell?!" Yang exclaimed, taken aback by the sudden appearance.

"What is that?!" Weiss shouted at the same time, her fatigue blown away by the surprise.

"I don't know. How can something like that just appear out of nowhere?" Ruby wondered confusedly. "And how isn't it falling?"

"I don't know, but we should head back, maybe the teachers will know more." Blake suggested sagely.

"Yeah… I agree." Weiss agreed uncertainly.

Just as they were about to start heading back, something appeared from the blue field inside the ring, something incomprehensible. Before they could even react smaller things were launched from its back, shooting off in various directions, four of them headed straight at them.

They stared in disbelief for a few seconds before Ruby finally reacted and started firing her sniper rifle at them.

To their surprise the rounds seemed to simply bounce off the things, and they realised, to their great shock, that they were actually larger than an Ursa. They quickly tried to scatter, leaping away from them as they flew by.

Looking close up they seemed to be made from some sort of metal that was impervious to their weaponry.

Yang decided to try punching one of them, but her fist barely dented the plating as a force field seemed to surround her, trapping her.

Ruby was met with a similar fate as she, too tired to use her semblance, was caught up to.

Weiss tried valiantly to keep away from them, but they were far too fast, and she was caught trying to run away.

Blake was caught trying to help her teammates, the last of the machines swooping in as she tried to break Ruby out.

And as suddenly as they had appeared, they were gone, taking team RWBY with them, and leaving only spent shell casings and the memory of the ring like object behind to indicate they were ever there.

_**-Break—**_

The ring lit up with a bright light, temporarily blinding those who were looking at it. As the light died down so did the blue light inside the ring.

The scientists looked excitedly at the data they had gathered, it was clear from the information they got that it connected somewhere, like a gate.

Professor Radcliffe's eyes widened as he realized the readings indicated something must have come through before it closed, but they couldn't see anything… No, wait… There!

At the base of the ring (gate?), a small figure could be seen. He rushed up towards it, Steinbeck following curiously.

It took him a short while to reach the figure, as they had been keeping a respectable distance from the gate. This had meant that they at first had missed the figure, as comparing what he could now see was a dainty girl against the massive, several hundred metre in diameter gate she lay at the foot off… well, it was hardly surprising.

The girl in question had pale skin and long hair the colour of pure snow. Her clothing was similarly white, with the inside of the vest she wore a deep red.

She was also unconscious, and he quickly called for the medical staff to come help.

He wondered who she was, where she had come from and, most unsettling, if she was missed by family or friends…

In his musings he failed to see the confused astonishment that appeared on his sponsors face for just a few moments…

_**-Break—**_

As Weiss came too she found herself in an unfamiliar bed staring up at an unfamiliar ceiling. Slowly she struggled to get up as she tried to remember how she had gotten there.

Her eyes snapped wide open as she remembered what had happened, the strange machines, the force fields and then… nothing.

She must have fallen unconscious at some point, as she had no idea what happened after her capturer.

Speaking of which… where was she? She could find nothing that she recognised in what she supposed was some sort of hospital room, and she was most certainly not restrained so…

She really had no idea.

Then she heard the door opening and saw a somewhat tall, busty girl with orange hair enter, carrying a plate with some fruit and a glass of water. She wore a white blouse with frills by the shoulders and a green necktie. She also had a blue skirt, white gloves with red details and similarly designed boots. Around her waist was a leather belt that looked somewhat superfluous.

"Ah, you're awake! How are you feeling? Everything alright?" She said in a cheerful tone that made Yang seem unhappy. Speaking of whom… Weiss could see none of her teammates, yet they should all have been captured as well… so where were they?

"I'm fine. Where am I?" She replied coldly with a question.

"Ah, that's right! You don't know that, do you?" The girl said, her face slightly worried. "This is the Ri Technologists' Mother Base on the South Pole. They found you unconscious by that thing… what was it they called it?" The girl seemed deep in thought for a short while.

Weiss didn't give her time to figure it out though. "I beg your pardon?" She asked incredulously. She had never heard of any of those things.

"Huh?" The girl was snapped out of her musings.

"I have never heard of either the Ri Technologists or the South Pole. What are they?" Weiss asked wonderingly.

The girl looked at her like she had grown a second head. "I can understand not knowing the Ri Tech, but not knowing the South Pole…" The girl looked completely confused, unable to comprehend Weiss words.

"Well, I don't. Did they find any others besides me?" Weiss asked cautiously yet hopefully.

"Hmm? No, I think you were alone. I'm pretty sure they would have told me if there were others." The girl looked thoughtful.

"I see…" Weiss averted her eyes, a strange feeling of sadness creeping into her heart. Where were the others? If she had been found alone then… She dared not consider the possible answers.

"Oh! My name is Cliana Rimskaya. What's yours?" The voice of the girl snapped her out of her strange mood.

"My name is Weiss Schnee, it's a pleasure to meet you Cliana." Weiss said with a small smile. "Despite the circumstances…" She then mumbled.

"Weiss…" If Cliana had heard the last part she made no indication of it. "Oh, does that mean you're German?" She then asked with a sweet smile.

"What's a German?" Weiss looked at the girl wonderingly.

_**-Break—**_

Kyousuke Nanbu liked to think that he was prepared for most things, but even so he wasn't entirely prepared for finding a raven haired teenager collapsed on the Wildraubiter he was about to test.

It probably had something to do with him never having seen her, and judging by the reactions of the mechanics when he pointed her out, neither had they.

So not only did he have to deal with the headache of having to test pilot an unfinished PT, he also had to deal with the headache of finding an unidentified, unconscious intruder.

He sighed. And people said he had good luck…

_**-Break—**_

Kusuha wasn't sure what to think. Before her lay an unconscious, busty blonde in an audacious outfit. One that was causing her childhood friend Ryusei no small amount of embarrassment, mainly because he had found her by tripping over her.

To his defence he quickly disentangled and scampered away, and she was lying in the middle of the way.

Although Kusuha did have to question the boy's sexuality at times, as he seemed more interested in giant robots than girls.

Then she remembered that there was a girl lying unconscious before her, and she quickly moved up to check up on the girl, using her nurse training. The girl seemed fine, she was unconscious, but otherwise fine, but even so she made sure to get her to the hospital that they, quite ironically, had just left after visiting Ryusei's sickly mother.

Well, at least things could hardly get any stranger from then on, right?

_**-Break—**_

Shu Shirakawa could only blink in confusion (a sight so rare anyone who had seen it would have shut down there and then) as he looked at his passenger.

Confusion because he hadn't let her on board and because he had no idea how she got there. He mused it might have had something to do with the Granzon's core… Actually, that sounded far more likely than he wanted to admit, having a device installed in his mech that caused the laws of probability to go haywire was not nearly as fun as it might sound.

He cautiously observed the girl that had appeared. She was short, probably somewhere in her teens, with a good chance puberty hadn't quite set in properly yet. Her hair was dark red that became lighter at the tips. And she wore a Black dress of some sort with large amounts of red details and what seemed to be some sort of red metal box.

This was troublesome, he was planning to go on a short trip back to La Gias, and he wasn't about to bring a young girl with him…

He might just have to leave her with Bian on Aidoneus Island, which he was a bit reluctant to do as Adler Koch was present, and he only barely tolerated the man, who had been a key figure in a project to produce excellent pilots through downright cruel and unethical methods.

Although he supposed a high priest in a cult worshipping an evil god of destruction meant he might not have any right to complain…

* * *

**Author's notes: Well, this is my attempt to start a new story, an experiment if you will. As such, feedback would be most appreciated. If anyone spots any glaring mistakes, be they grammatical or story related then do not hesitate to tell me. **

**The idea for this was actually spawned when I was writing on my other story, The Unknown Visitor From Another Galaxy, and originally basically went, what if this person met that person?**

**Well, any confusion about this story can be directed to me, and I might try to clarify it. Other than that, I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

Bian Zoldark had been surprised as the Granzon returned earlier than expected… and doubly so when its creator and pilot, Shu Shirakawa, had exited carrying a young girl in a bridal carry.

Professor Shirakawa was a relatively tall man, with shoulder-length wavy purple hair, sharp purple eyes that revealed few emotions and seemingly held a vast intelligence and a fair light complexion.

He was clad in a loose, button less white coat with light purple linings along the upper edge that folded out into two triangular shapes over the chest, and small shoulder pads the same colour. Underneath that he wore a dark blue vest like piece with a V-shape going across the chest and with dark purple trims followed by a light purple shirt with a muffler-like collar covering his neck.

On his legs he had a pair of dark blue pants and on his feet were a pair of white shoes. To finish it all off, he had a dark purplish thin scarf that presumable was wrapped around his neck, although it was impossible to discern as it was hidden by the coat's edge, that ended in two golden V-s with three small pendant like attachments on its points and a small gold oval just above them.

The man radiated confidence, his posture always strong and straight, not even the smallest inkling of uncertainty in his steps It almost looked natural for him to carry someone in a bridal carry, as he radiated an almost royal presence, although his frame was no larger than the average man's.

Not to say that he wasn't without faults, his attitude made him seem arrogant, and he often gave the impression of knowing things that he didn't tell. Coupled with being polite to a fault, it was little wonder that some people disliked the man.

Of course, Bian didn't dwell on any of this, instead focusing on the young girl that Shu had brought.

"What's this Professor Shirakawa? To think that you would return so quickly… and carrying a young girl to boot… What's the meaning of this?" Bian questioned his fellow scientist gravely.

"I must say that I had not anticipated returning so soon, but this young lady appeared unconscious in my Granzon, and with my limited amount of time I had little choice but to return here and leave her with you Professor Bian." The purple-haired man responded almost nonchalantly.

"In the Granzon? How is that possible? You are the only person able to access it…" Bian's mind reeled at the thought. Apart from Professor Shirakawa, no one was allowed to access the Granzon…

"Furthermore, she wasn't present when I first boarded, I am confident I would have noticed." Shu added.

Bian blanched at those words. She had somehow entered the Granzon while it was in operation without the pilot noticing? That was ludicrous! There was just no way…

"Could it be, a spatial-jump?" Bian voiced the only reasonable explanation that entered his mind.

"Perhaps, although somehow I doubt she performed it willingly, if her current state is of any indication." Shu's response held a hint of wonder, but nothing was betrayed on his features.

"Very well, I will have someone bring her to the infirmary. We will take care of her for now, and once she awakes we might find out more. Of course, we will exercise caution, as one can never tell." Bian said seriously.

"Of course. Very well then, Professor Bian, I will resume my previous plans and take my leave." Shu said graciously as he handed the girl over to a guard that had arrived during their conversation.

"Yes, farewell Professor Shirakawa." Bian nodded as he watched the man leave.

_**-Break—**_

Yang awoke with a groan, her eyes slowly prying open. The first thought that crossed her mind, was that she most certainly wasn't in their room, as in that case she would have been staring at the underside of Blake's bed, not at a white roof.

Actually, it kind of looked like a hospital room… what the hell had happened to get her into hospital? She tried to remember, and slowly she started to remember the previous events.

A giant ring appearing in the sky, some kind of thing coming out of it… and her and her team being captured by some weird looking machines. Wait… captured? Where was she!? Where's her team?

She looked around the hospital room, but she was alone in there. What happened after that? Why was she in a hospital? And why was the letters on that sign so damn weird!?

She focused a bit on the sign, the only clue she had on her current location, but she could make no sense on the letters on it… if they even were letters, they were really elaborate…

Her musings were interrupted as the door opened, revealing a man in a doctor's clothing looking at some papers with a thoughtful expression. He got halfway into the room before he looked up and noticed she was awake already.

"あー、起きていますか。気分はどうですか？"The man said questioningly in a language she couldn't understand.

All she could give in response was a short:" What?"

He looked at her with a bewildered expression for a few seconds before tentatively speaking up again: "You have awoken. Are you feeling well?" He spoke uncertainly and with a heavy accent, but at least she could understand him now.

"I'm fine… I think. I feel fine at least…?" Yang was a bit uncertain about her condition, but couldn't feel anything wrong, so she assumed she had recovered… "Where am I?" She asked uncertainly.

"Ah, yes, you are at the New Tokyo General Hospital." The man (doctor?) stated helpfully.

"I have no idea where that is." Yang said blankly.

"Tokyo…? Japan…?" The doctor said uncertainly, becoming more and more bewildered as Yang continued to have a clueless look on her face. "Earth…?"

"Okay… still have no idea where I am." Yang said confused.

"Oh! Well… Do you remember your name?" The doctor then said questioningly with a worried look in his eyes.

"Yeah, it's Yang Xiao Long." Yang said aggravated.

The doctor looked at her with confusion written all over his face. "Yang Xiao Long…" He looked down at the notes he was holding. "Yang Xiao Long…" He said her name again, but this time he pronounced it wrong. He wrote something with a pen he had produced out of nowhere. "陽小龍…" Then he said something really weird in what she assumed was his language.

He looked at her again appraisingly, seemingly trying to figure something out. Before she could say something about it he looked away again and muttered something lowly, although she couldn't understand the few titbits she managed to hear.

"Hmm… well… I have some matters that I must attend to, I need you to stay here for a little bit longer. We need to make a few last checks before we can discharge you…" The doctor said awkwardly and left through the door.

Yang, not being one to listen to instructions much, got out of the bed, feeling a bit sluggish, but otherwise being just fine, and made her way over to the windows.

Looking out, the first thing that struck her was how large some of the buildings she could see were. The second thing that struck her was that the city she was looking at seemed infinitely much larger than Vale back home.

There was also a distinct lack of things she expected, like holographic street posts, but instead it seemed to her like there were a lot more people around the streets. For a few seconds she wondered if an unusual amount of people were on that particular street at this time, but ultimately she decided to postpone that line of thought in favour of the more pressing matter, where the hell was she!

Wherever she was, it clearly wasn't home, and judging by the way the doctor had said it she might not even be on Remnant anymore. At first she wanted to dismiss the thought as impossible, but that giant ring appearing in the middle of the sky was rather impossible as well…

She growled in frustration. This was all so confusing! Nothing made any sense right now…

She heard the door open again, and she turned around, expecting it to be the doctor from before. Instead, she was met by the sight of a tall man with long blue hair, sharp, cold and calculating blue eyes and fair, if maybe somewhat pale, complexion.

He was wearing a light-blue uniform with gold trimmings, dark-blue lines running down the arms with gold trimmings as well, over his shoulders were dark-blue shoulder guard like parts that were also gold-trimmed. Along the zipper the uniform was grey, as were the sleeves. Underneath the uniform it seemed like he wore a grey, high-collared shirt. He also had white/light-greyish pants, and a pair of nice grey shoes with blue… plates?

He looked to be from some military, but she couldn't recognize neither the uniform nor the insignia… Not in Remnant 2, In Remnant… 0.

"Hello young lady, I would like to have a word with you…" The man spoke out in a cool and authoritative voice.

_**-Break—**_

Blake was having a bad day. First she wakes up to find herself in an unfamiliar location, then she was interrogated by some unpleasant looking man with a really bad attitude, being questioned about her purpose, how she got there (she would like to know that herself) and all manner of other things, with a lot of unfamiliar terminology being thrown about, leaving her utterly confused.

Then the man left, infuriated at having failed to get anything useful out of her. And then a blue-haired man with hair that somehow curved upwards with a few stray bangs hanging out and a long mane behind the head and red eyes entered.

He was clad in a black vest-like garment that left the chest exposed and midriff exposed and that had a high collar and dark purple trims. On his chest was some kind of chest plate, and underneath he seemed to be wearing a black shirt covering his entire upper body all the up the neck. He had black gloves and a tight pair of black pants as well as black and purple boots. He also had an off kilter leather belt around his waist.

He was also looking at her appraisingly in a slightly lecherous manner, an approving smile on his face.

"What?" Blake said, irritated and really tired.

"Yeah, well… I wanted to see this gal that had caused Hans Weber to storm out in such frustration. I must say, not bad, not bad at all…" The man leaned closer, resting his hands on the table.

"Umm…okay…?" Blake's eyes darted around the room, uncertain of what would happen next.

The man's eyes turned slightly more serious as he straightened out again. "Well, time and place, time and place… My name is Irmgard Kazahara, what's yours?" He then said with a smile.

She hesitated for a few seconds, she had already told them her name, although looking at this man before her, he didn't look like he belonged to the same group as the previous man…

"Blake Belladonna." She said curtly.

"Belladonna eh. A nice name. And? Why are you here?" He continued nonchalantly.

"I don't know…" Blake said softly.

"You don't know? That… is a bit hard to believe… Although…" The man looked thoughtful for a moment. "How did you get here?"

"I… I'm not sure… I remember some… thing… and then some type of flying machines… and then…w- I was captured… and then… nothing. Next I knew I was here." Blake looked at the blue-haired man with the eyes of someone pleading to be believed.

"Captured… flying machines… Were these machines… bug-like?" The man was deep in thought for a while before asking her a question in a serious tone, all traces of playfulness or goofiness gone.

Blake considered the question for a few moments. Had they been bug-like? She wasn't really sure… Then again, there was some resemblance to a bug…

"I think so, yes." Blake responded.

"I see… I'll have a word with the people in charge, I really don't think you did anything wrong…" The man gave a sombre nod and exited the room.

Blake really hoped he could do something to help her… she was really worried about her teammates, she had had no indication that she had been found together with them, and she worried that their situations might be similarly troublesome…

She could only hope…

* * *

**Author's notes: And the fates of team RWBY is becoming clearer... or not. Also, why does Shu have such an overly elaborate outfit? Seriously, just trying to figure out how to describe it was really annoying. As for the hospital Yang was interred in, I just made one up, as I could find no reference to its actual name. The only thing I was certain about was that it was somewhere in Tokyo or its surrounding prefectures. **

**I would really appreciate if you would point out any faults or mistakes I might have made, as there is bound to be a few... Oh! I would also really appreciate it if you told me what you think of the story itself in an review. Anyway, I hope you enjoy and that you have a nice day.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

Ruby had had the strangest dream. First she and her team had been kidnapped by some weird machines, then she had briefly had a glimpse of a quite handsome purple haired man… carrying her? Then again, she had never seen that man before, and dreams didn't usually involve unknown people, right?

She sluggishly opened her eyes, maybe she should consult someone? Although, if she mentioned something like that to her sister… Yeah, nope.

She finally registered the incorrect ceiling. Her eyes shot open. Had it really been a dream? She surveyed her surroundings, taking in what appeared to be a hospital room, or an infirmary, she supposed.

She breathed a little easier when she spotted her darling Crescent Rose over by a wall. Okay, her darling was still with her. Then on to the second order of business, where was she? While she didn't have any great familiarity with the Beacon infirmary, she was quite certain this wasn't it, as she couldn't recognize any of the equipment.

Oh, and the windows had an ocean view, something most people in Remnant could only dream of. It was quite beautiful really…

And that was not important right now! Figure out where you were first, admire the scenery later.

She slowly got out of her bed, feeling slightly sluggish for some reason… She made her way over to the window and gazed out, trying to get a feel for where she was.

Now that she got closer, she could see something akin to a military installation, with a landing strip in front of her, and a few smaller buildings off to the right, with some kind of hangar barely visible to the left.

Looking further to the right she saw another building, situated in a large crater, in the middle of which a large rock was secured by several clamps. She wondered what that was all about, were they worried it might try to run away?

A sound behind her alerted her to the door opening, and she turned around to face the person entering. It was a relatively tall man, with broad shoulders, his hair was dark-blue and slicked back and he had sharp, similarly coloured eyes. He had a thick, short, dark-blue beard covering his lower cheeks and a goatee on his chin, as well as a moustache running down and meeting his beard near his chin, leaving something like a reverse V-shape under his mouth.

He was wearing a normal lab coat, but even then he radiated a presence greater than even General Ironwood's, although she also felt that the man was similar to Ozpin. There was no doubt in Ruby's mind that this was quite an important man.

"Oh, you are awake. How are you feeling? You have been unconscious for quite some time." His voice was deep and powerful, and Ruby found herself listening attentively to him.

"Well, I… I'm fine…? I think? Feel fine at least, a bit off, but if you consider I was unconscious for a prolonged period of time then-"Ruby started uncertainly before she stared to ramble nervously.

The man raised an eyebrow as he watched her frantic rambling. "That is good hear. I am Bian Zoldark, lead scientist of the EOTI, and, you could say, the person in charge around here." The man, now introduced as Bian, said gravely, although with a hint of humour in his voice.

"Umm… I'm Ruby, Ruby Rose…" She started uncertainly. "What's the EOTI?" She swore she could hear someone face-plant just out of sight, and Bian's eyebrows rose in surprise.

"Hoh? You say you do not know of the EOTI?" Bian's face became contemplative. "Then what about the Earth Federation?" He then asked, a curious glint in his eyes.

"What's that?" Ruby tilted her head in confusion.

"Hmm… I see. It seems we need to have a long talk indeed if we are to sort this out." Bian seemed to have come to some realisation. "Walk with me, this is no place for a conversation." He then said as he turned and beckoned her to follow.

Ruby grabbed her Crescent Rose and hesitantly followed. This might be her best chance to find out more…

_**-Break—**_

Yang wasn't sure if her current situation was good… or bad. The man who had approached her in the hospital was some officer named Ingram Prisken, who, she had to admit, was nice to look at.

The problem was that said person had determined that she didn't quite exist.

How exactly he had come to that conclusion so quickly was anyone's guess, but she supposed that he primarily meant that she didn't exist in public records.

So he gave her an offer. Join his project named Project SRX, and he would take care of that problem for her. He never did say what the other option was, but Yang was certain it would have been bad.

She had been hesitant, of course, but after getting some more details, apparently it was meant to develop new mobile weapons, that, if Yang didn't misunderstand, was kind of like Atlas' Paladins.

So, seeing no better option for now(and thinking it could be fun) Yang accepted, and found herself sent to what was known as the Far East Brigade, where she met one of the people that had brought her to the hospital, a boy named Ryusei Date.

Ryusei was a young guy, only one year older than Yang. He had really spiky brown hair that was actually kind of reminiscent of a star up front, while the rest went back towards the back of his head where it spiked out even more. He had large brown eyes that were taking in the things around them with wonder. What they never rested on was her, something that actually kind of amazed her.

He had a blue/light-purple uniform with gold trims and brown shoulder pads of some kind, underneath he had a light-purplish shirt. He had white pants with two metal bands around his right thigh, and he had really high, purple boots with something akin to plating over the toes and heel.

He was so-so, not bad-looking but not handsome.

Well, speaking of that she was amazed he wasn't staring at her, part of that came from the uniform she had gotten. The top was a blue and light-purple like Ryusei's, but it did nothing to cover her shoulders, starting just above her bosom and reaching down to her waist. There began a white mini-skirt that reached to about her upper thigh. To finish it all off she had been given a pair of knee-high boots similar to Ryusei's as well.

She really wanted to meet the person who this uniform was made for, because even she was feeling a bit uncomfortable in it…

_**-Break—**_

"So… Blake Belladonna, that is what you said your name is, correct?" Some blue-haired man, who was not Irmgard (who, she had found, was a nice guy, once you got past his womanizing nature) but another, who had introduced himself as Ingram Prisken said with a glance at some papers.

"Yes." She said curtly.

"I see… Now, commander Laker and I have found that there is little reason to keep you here, other than the fact that you entered a restricted area. The greatest problem we have right now is that, well, quite frankly, you don't exist." Ingram said coldly.

"I… see." Blake said worriedly. She had long since caught on to the fact that this was unlikely to be her world at all.

"With that in mind however, I have an offer for you." He said, leaning forwards as he did so. "You see, I am in charge of a project know as Project SRX, the purpose of which is to create new mobile weapons utilising new technology. If you join this project, you will be cleared of all charges and I will personally take care of the problem where you don't even exist. What do you say?"

Blake looked at Ingram cautiously. It was the best she had, but… It was also a bit too good of an offer.

"I accept. I will join your project if you uphold your end of the deal." She felt like she had no choice, it was that or nothing she suspected.

He smirked. "Very well. I will have someone guide you around while I make the necessary arrangements." He said as he rose from his seat. "Aya, show her around please."

A young woman with short, wavy sea-green hair and green eyes entered. She was clad in a small blue vest that started below the collarbone and ended by the waist where a white mini-skirt continued on. On her arms where a pair of blue gloves and on her feet were knee-high boots the same colour as the uniform. She had a golden chocker around her neck and gold earrings.

She was… lightly clad… to such a degree that she made Yang seem modest. It was slightly… off-putting to Blake, so her first words to this new person was: "Do I have to wear that?"

She seemed a bit put off, and as such faltered in her response. "I... I'll see with the major…" She cleared her throat embarrassedly. "Anyway, I'm Aya Kobayashi, captain of the SRX-team whom you will be working with." She then introduced herself professionally, offering a handshake.

Blake shook the offered hand cautiously. "And I'm Blake Belladonna, although I'm certain you already knew that." She said with a wry smile.

"Well… yes. Anyway, come on, I'll show you around." Aya said bashfully and waved for her to follow.

Blake sighed softly, at least she wasn't under arrest and charged with espionage anymore. Certainly things could only get better from there.

_**-Break—**_

The first thing that struck Weiss was that the landscape around Mother Base was covered in ice and snow. The reason, apparently, was because they were so far south that the degrees never went above freezing. When Weiss then wondered how anyone could live in a place like this, she found out that nobody did, apart from scattered groups of scientists and a lone military base.

The second thing that struck her, was the fact that this Cliana girl was… odd. She was sometimes quiet and deep in thought for several minutes, and sometimes her manner of speech was different than it usually was. It didn't help that her expression would also change completely, making her seem like a whole different person at times. She was still a nice girl though, and she wasn't all that odder than Penny, so Weiss let it slide.

The third thing that struck her was that she was no longer in Remnant, something she had started suspecting when she first woke up, and something which had only grown stronger as she realised that people didn't know who the Schnees were. That, and the Earth Federation, which seemed to be something like the council in Vale, except that they governed the **entire** planet.

Another thing that struck her, was that she really didn't like Alteur Steinbeck. He was just far too smug, far too suspicious (he easily accepted that she might not be of this world, something that made her wonder about many things). That, and the fact that he had used his position as sponsor of the Ri Technologists, that was to say the people who ran Mother Base, to more or less force them to have her test a man-machine interface that they had been working on.

It didn't help that some of the researchers had voiced concerns about her safety.

She sighed deeply as the cockpit hatch closed. It wasn't installed in any machine right now, as they were still trying to work out the chinks in the system. She just really hoped said chinks weren't dangerous or something…

Power hummed through the machinery around her. It was somewhat like the cockpit found on the Atlesian Paladin, at least as far as she knew about it, but larger. She was seated in a chair with several monitors around her, as well as various levers and regulators. She watched as the monitors turned on and she heard as someone announced the progress.

So far so good…

"Sympathia system activating, pilot link… established." A researcher announced through the com-system.

The words had barely even reached Weiss as she felt something unimaginable. It was like something was tearing her apart, but she wasn't feeling any pain, it was all in her head.

"Aborting test! Damn you Alteur, I told you it was stupid!" Faintly she heard the researcher from earlier, but she was slowly losing consciousness.

'_What… was that even?'_ She wondered angrily.

'_I… don't know…'_

* * *

**Author's notes: I realise that there haven't been much action yet, but I hope to get to it sooner or later(This is were I should probably just write longer chapters I suppose). I hope that I didn't mess up anyone's personality too much, although if you feel that I have done something wrong, then please tell me. Feel free to review and tell me if you like it or not, as that really helps motivate me to write more. Oh yeah, did the Japanese in the previous chapter show up properly, I'm curious. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

Nothing. She was surrounded by emptiness. There were no discernible features, no ground, no sky, just pure white.

No, there was something there, herself. Except, she was herself, so who was she?

"I'm not sure…" Suddenly the other her said uncertainly.

Her gaze snapped to the other, causing her to flinch and cower slightly. It reminded her somewhat of Velvet…

Except of course that the girl before her had her face. The only real difference she could see was that she seemed incredibly shy…

"I suppose that would be the difference between us…"

Again she spoke up, could she hear her thoughts?

"I hear yours and you hear mine."

What…? That was… How is that possible?

"I don't know…"

Then… where was this?

"I think… this is a sort of dreamscape…"

If so, then who's?

"Probably… ours."

Ours?

Before a response could be heard she felt the dreamscape fade as she stirred…

_**-Break—**_

Weiss awoke with a start.

That was a really weird dream…

Seriously though, a shy her?

That was-

'_I'm… still here…'_

What… in the name of…

She stopped as she realised, was that what she had meant by our?

'_Yes…'_

Wait… so suddenly she had gone insane?

'_Maybe… I don't really know…'_

'_That's not very helpful.'_ She rubbed her temples with her left hand.

'_Sorry…'_

'_Don't- oh for… You don't need to apologise!'_

'_Sorry!'_

For some reason Weiss had the mental image of herself cowering in fear. Brilliant.

She heard the door slam open and looked up to see the despairing form of Cliana flying towards her.

"Weiß! Are you okay!" Weiss could barely react before the barrelling missile of a person embraced her, not even allowing her to display her displeasure at her name being mispronounced.

"Cliana… Calm down… I'm… fine…" Weiss wheezed forth from the crushing hug.

Cliana let go and looked her in the face. "Really…?" Cliana trailed off as she looked into her eyes.

The intake of air was audible as she gasped.

"What? I'm okay, really." Weiss said slightly annoyed.

She wasn't about to tell a stranger that she suddenly had voices in her-

Did Cliana's expression just change entirely?

She couldn't be certain, but suddenly she got the feeling that the normally cheerful and innocent Cliana's face had hardened into one far more serious… And her eyes… were not quite the same…

"I was afraid that might happen…" Her voice was different, hard and sad.

"What do you mean?"

"Your personality, it has been split, has it not?"

Weiss' mind reeled. Did she know? Was she the same? Suddenly she felt herself be pushed back, like she was receding into her own mind, her posture shrinking together unwillingly, her head lowering slightly so as to not look Cliana directly in the eye.

"Yes…" Her own voice came out of her mouth, yet she had not spoken.

"I see… so you're the same as me now…" The normally cheerful girl said, clenching her fist in anger.

"So… you know… about this?" Once again she spoke, disregarding her own will.

Suddenly she realised what was happening.

'_What are you doing!?'_ She shouted in her mind.

Her body reacted, flinching visibly, even to herself.

'_Sorry… I just felt… that it would be okay…'_ The voice of her shyer self resounded in her mind.

She sighed mentally, earning a nervous laugh from her other self.

"Weiss?" Cliana's voice reached them, causing her to look at her again, having stopped looking at Cliana during their 'conversation'. "Try not to be so obvious when you are discussing with yourself, others will notice."

Weiss somehow managed to surface again, regaining control. "And, do you know what happened?" She asked.

The orange haired gal shook her head. "Not really, all I know is that it seems to be a side-effect of using the Sympathia…"

"I see… then, why was I allowed to perform that test?" She couldn't completely hide her annoyance, making a glint of ice enter her voice.

"I suppose it's hard to deny the main sponsor… and you kind of did agree to it, so…" Cliana's voice trailed off.

Weiss flinched slightly as she remembered that, yes indeed, she had agreed to performing the test, if only to stop that annoying argument between Alteur and… Clifford? Was that his name? Hold on a second…

"You knew about it?" She asked suspiciously.

"Father told me after you were brought here." Cliana said scratching her cheek.

Oh, that made sense.

"Your… father?" She realised that it had been her who asked the question. Or, rather, 'her'.

"Ah, I'm talking about Felio Radcliffe, the head researcher." Cliana said abashedly. Then she seemed to realise something, possibly thanks to the confused look that seemed to have appeared on her face (she wasn't really certain). "Oh! He's not my actual father… I was adopted… After the incident with the Sympathia…"

Weiss noted that the cheer had returned, Cliana's facial features softening and her posture relaxing.

"So… how do you… refer to one another?" Her voice came out again, her shyer self somehow managing to ask the questions she wouldn't.

"Well, you can call me Chris when we are alone!" The cheerful Cliana exclaimed, bouncing slightly, causing her, bountiful assets, to bounce slightly as well.

Weiss seriously started to consider if this girl was actually a combination between Yang and Blake or something, if both were allowed to retain their personalities.

"And you can call me Liana at those times, nice to meet you." The serious Cliana followed up.

"Well, nice to meet you as well Liana."

_**-Break—**_

Ruby whooshed forth over a grassy field, flying low. It had taken a few tries, and a healthy dose of instruction, but finally she had gotten the hang of it. And she absolutely loved it.

There was little she loved as little as going fast, and if there was one thing this machine, the Lion did, it was go fast.

Of course, this was a simulation, but that did not change that she felt the rush of speed as she shot forth, following the landscape.

She spotted one of the targets she was supposed to shoot, and used the controls to move the left arm, armed with a railgun, so that it aligned with the target.

It took a few shoots, her aim wasn't the best yet. After all, it was kind of hard to aim while flying at extreme speeds (the monitors told her it was around 990 km/h, whatever that meant exactly).

So, how had she found herself in this situation?

Well, she had learned a lot from Bian. Apparently, the planet, known as Earth, was under threat from beings from outer space (Ruby settled with them being hostile), and as such, mobile weapons, such as the Lion she was currently operating, had been created, using technology known as EOT, or Extra Over Technology, which had come to Earth, together with the knowledge that they were under threat, with an object known as Meteor 3, which she also found out was the giant rock present on the island.

But the Federation, those in charge, where a divided bunch, and, unable to reveal this information for fear of mass panic, was heavily hampered in their efforts to prepare themselves. This problem was aggravated by some who had started negotiating with the Extra Terrestrials (as far as Ruby understood, beings from outer space) and planned to surrender in exchange for their own safety.

So, in order to make sure Earth was ready, Bian had started organising the Divine Crusaders, who would rebel, causing a violent ordeal that would, no matter who came out on top, leave the Earth as strong as possible.

While Ruby couldn't say that she understood the logic, she had found herself caught up in Bian's conviction, and, quite possibly against her better judgement, had agreed to help, if only a little bit.

So now here she was, learning how to operate a mobile weapon, because that was apparently how things would be fought.

At first she had thought that she could help with her Crescent Rose… then she had found out about the scouts that had appeared.

They had been, to say the least, big. She wasn't entirely sure, but the things looked at least larger than a Giant Nevermore. And the Lion was around twice as big.

Needless to say, the first thing Ruby had done was geek out over the various weapons that were in development.

Then she had met Filio Presty, who, she found, was really nice. He helped introduce her to the prototype for the Lion, as well as prepared the simulator for her. Then she was introduced to his assistant, Tsugumi Takakura, who had then helped her come to understand how the machine controlled.

On the downside, her test were also presided by a man named Adler Koch, who had seemed overjoyed to find that she could use the Lion relatively well after such a short time. She overheard him saying something about Boosted Children, although nothing to indicate what it actually **was**.

She didn't really like him, maybe because he was really ugly, maybe because he simply creeped her out. Or both. That worked too.

She hummed in satisfaction as she managed to shoot down three targets in a row with three shots before finally unloading some of the Lion's homing missiles at the last few targets, clearing the simulation.

Exiting the simulator she was met by the smiling visage of Tsugumi.

"Good job, Ruby. You seem to be getting the hang of it."

Tsugumi was a petite woman, not much taller than Ruby with waist length brown hair kept behind her with an orange ribbon and blue eyes. She wore a yellow coat with another orange ribbon over the chest and purple sleeves with white frills. Underneath she wore a pink blouse and pink shorts. On her feet were a pair of peach coloured ankle high boots with purple stockings up to the under the knees.

Ruby liked her, she was nice. What she didn't like was the somewhat creepy smile on Adler's face as he looked at some data, presumably hers. She also didn't like that she was worried about her friends, whom she had no idea where they were…

Of course, all her worries was blown away when she caught sight of the Divine Blade, a sword bigger than the Lion… Yeah, Ruby couldn't quite handle that.

_**-Break—**_

Apparently Blake had offended some higher power when she had pointed out that Captain Kobayashi's uniform looked Yang's clothes look modest. At least that was the only explanation she could have for the sight before her. That was, Yang, in that same uniform, somehow making it look even less modest than the Captain's despite them being the same.

This was immediately followed by a crushing hug from the busty blonde, who was, quite frankly, overjoyed to see her partner.

"Nice to see you Blake! I was kind of worried about you." Yang said as she released her.

"Likewise Yang." She said with a small smile. "So, have you met any of the other two?" She then asked in a low voice.

"Unfortunately, no. You neither?" The boisterous blonde said sadly.

She simply shook her head in response.

"So, any idea what those mobile weapons are like?" Yang asked normally, pretending like nothing was wrong.

"No, I'm still in the middle of my tour." Blake indicated the Captain who had given them some distance.

"Oh, Captain! Can I accompany you? And can we go look at the units, I still haven't seen one of them." Yang said audaciously.

"Hmm… Well, it should be fine. Come on, I'll show you to the SRX Project's hangar." The youthful team leader said after some thinking.

After a bit of walking they arrived at a large bay. But what impressed them the most wasn't the bay itself, but rather the machines stored there.

When they had first heard about the whole humanoid mobile weapons thing they had thought of the Atlesian Paladins, but these machines made them look positively tiny. Hell, they made Goliaths look normal in comparison.

Currently arrayed in the hangar were three machines, two of them, coloured white, were bulky machines vaguely resembling a heavily armoured human, with large wide legs and feet, an armoured skirt protecting the upper leg joints, a cockpit hatch in the middle of the chest, two large shoulder pads jutting straight out. Its head resembled a helmet with a single red visor and two large horns sticking out in something akin to a V-shape. The arms looked like they had large gauntlets on them, with the left having three stakes jutting out. On the back there seemed to be large thrusters, although from where they stood it wasn't really clear. These were introduced to them as the Gespenst mark II type-TT, which were used by Aya and Ryusei.

The third was similar, but lacked the armoured skirt, the horns and the shoulder pads didn't jut out quite as much. It was yellow, and far bulkier, with three barrelled auto-cannons on both arms and two massive cannons sticking up behind the shoulders. This was the Schutzwald, a heavily armoured machine designed for long range combat (as if that wasn't obvious) piloted by Lieutenant Raidiese F Branstein, who they had yet to meet.

Unfortunately they were still in the process of getting Yang and Blake something to pilot, so for now they would simply have to run some simulations and take a test of some kind.

The two could only imagine what would happen if Ruby saw these things…

* * *

**Author's notes: So yeah... poor Weiss? Why Weiss anyway? It kind of just went that way, I have nothing against Weiss in particular.**

**Also, for those who don't know, the Lion is basically a cross between a real robot and a fighter jet. It's also about 20 metres tall.**

**Although... for some reason I doubt people don't know... But do feel free to ask me questions if you are confused by something and I'll try to explain. **

**I would also really appreciate some reviews, just to know what people actually think about the story. Just saying that it's nice is enough really, although more detailed feedback is far more appreciated. It's just that reviews really helps you feel that it's worth your time to write a story and, while not immensely fun, having someone point out any glaring mistakes is really helpful and might even improve the story. **

**But yeah, I digress. I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

Blake sighed loudly. The controls of a Personal Trooper were actually really complicated. It took several hours in the simulators before she and Yang had figured out how to use it properly, and even then they were still rough around the edges.

Even their fellow rookie Ryusei was better than they were, although apparently he had participated in some game known as Burning PT, through which he had gained familiarity with the basic principles.

On the other hand, it was quite exhilarating, even in a simulator, to pilot a PT. They were fast, faster than one would expect from something that size and weight, thanks to a series of thrusters on their backs. Seeing the terrain passing by as you thundered forth…

Yeah, she could certainly see the charm of these machines.

So she couldn't help but feel a little exited at the prospect of piloting one in reality.

"Good work Miss Belladonna." The blue haired leader of the SRX project, Major Ingram Prisken, congratulated her as he approached.

Blake didn't really like him. There was something about him that set her on edge, a faint hint of something different from the rest of Earth's inhabitants. He also seemed a bit too devious.

"Humph, she still has a long way to go. She and her friend might have started learning, but they are still inaccurate and clumsy." A new voice entered the conversation. It was cold and harsh, and belonged to the last member of the SRX team, Raidiese F Branstein, called Rai by most people. Probably because his name is quite the mouthful.

He was a tall man with a lean build, a hint of musculature hidden under his uniform. He had shoulder-length blonde hair and sharp, icy blue eyes. He wore the same uniform as Ryusei, although he had a black glove on his left hand, his vest was closed about half-way (contrary to Ryusei's which was open all the way) and underneath he had a cyan shirt. He also didn't have those weird metal rings on his right leg.

He was somewhat handsome, but had an ice cold personality that rivalled Weiss' and Blake was certain that his left hand smelled metallic. Maybe a prosthetic?

Blake wouldn't pry though. It would just be better to leave it till he revealed it himself.

Oh yeah, he was also the person in charge of their training, although Yang was currently off doing some sort of test.

"Of course Rai. However, I must ask Miss Belladonna here to come with me. It's her turn to be tested." The Major said matter-of-factly.

"Of course Major. Does that mean that I will need to oversee Xiao Long instead?" The blonde pilot asked professionally.

"Please do. She should be here shortly." The blue haired man responded. He then turned towards her. "Follow me." He instructed.

She followed, slightly nervous about what kind of test she was about to take…

_**-Break—**_

"Right, Blake, if you could please remove that bow, we can begin." Aya gently asked Blake who was seated in a sort of chair.

The raven-haired girl hesitated, obviously unwilling to remove the bow she had on top of her head, her eyes flitting about, seeming to seek some way out.

"Blake… please." She pleaded. "This is an important test so…"

The clearly uncomfortable girl bit her lip as she lowered her gaze. She sighed resignedly and reached up for her bow, grabbing on to one of the ends she pulled, unravelling the bow… and revealing the cat ears hidden underneath.

"Huh?" Was all Aya could say as she approached the girl before her. She poked at one of the dark extremities, but before she could touch it, it flickered away in a manner similar to that of a cat, causing her to immediately leave it alone. "They're real?"

The fearful cat-girl nodded, her entire body shaking.

She looked at the ears confusedly.

Blake shrank together slightly, looking like she would be hated.

"How is that even possible?" Aya wondered loudly before placing her hand on her cheek and blushing excitedly. "But they sure are cute…"

Blake's reaction was one of shock and confusion.

"Wait, what?" The now confused girl said incredulously.

"Hmm, will those interfere with wearing a helmet?" She mused out loud.

"Uh… I… don't really know?" Was her confused response.

"Will you at least try putting this on?" She asked holding a helmet like device.

Blake stared at it for a few moments before nodding slightly and putting the helmet on, looking a bit uncomfortable, but otherwise seeming to be fine.

"Relax a bit, this won't take long." The green haired woman said reassuringly. "Begin." She then said out loud, making a small gesture. "Blake, would you please try to concentrate?"

A few minutes passed with Blake concentrating, Aya watching over her.

"Hmm… Okay, you can stop now." She then said.

"Is it over?" Blake asked surprised.

"Yes." She said with a gentle smile.

Blake sighed in relief as she lifted the helmet, her cat ears springing up from having been flattened under the helmet. She then redid her bow and exited hastily.

Aya, instead of following entered another room right next to the previous one where one could look into it, with several monitors and control panels, presumably what had been used for the test.

Inside stood two men, Major Ingram and another, a man of average height and build, bald with a grey moustache and sharp narrow eyes of an undiscernible colour. On his right eye rested a monocle and he had stitching running diagonally over the top right of his head. His features were hardened and aged, making him look older than he is. He wore a white lab-coat like coat with a black wedge running from his left shoulder with red in the middle. He also had a pair of black boots. This would be her father, Kenzo Kobayashi, an important researcher in the SRX Project.

They turned towards her. "Aya." The older man said seriously with a nod.

"Father, was it the same as earlier?" She asked him.

"Yes. While not entirely the same, they are similar enough to be considered the same. Yet they are, unfortunately, not Psychics." He responded. "Yet I must say, I am intrigued to find that Blake Belladonna has animalistic traits… Perhaps her unusual eyes are also some such?" The stern-faced man rubbed his chin in contemplation.

"There was nothing to indicate she was anything other than human when they ran the first few tests when they found her… although they never did run her through an X-ray or remove the bow it seems…" The Major added to their musings. "What do you think Dr Kobayashi?"

"Hum… There doesn't seem to be any major differences in basic lifestyle from that of any other person's…" Her father considered the facts. "I will leave this to you. If you feel there is any need to treat her differently, do so." He concluded coldly.

"Heh, well, her reaction was that of one afraid of rejection, not that of one discovered." The Major said cryptically. "I see no reason to treat her differently or make a fuss about it. Aya, I will leave it to you."

"Yes Major. I will gladly." She responded with a smile and a salute.

_**-Break—**_

When Yang met Blake she found her to be in distress.

"Blake! What happened?" She said concernedly.

"I had to remove my bow…" Blake said lowly.

"Oh… That's… That could get… interesting." Yang wasn't sure what to say.

"Blake! There you are!" Aya's voice rang out. The raven-haired girl flinched visibly at the voice.

Aya huffed slightly as she reached them, probably because she ran up to them.

"Oh! Hello Aya! What did you want?" Yang asked with false cheer.

"I just wanted to tell Blake that we won't treat her differently, that's all." The green haired woman said with a genuine smile on her face.

She was slightly taken aback by that statement, and Blake seemed similarly surprised.

"Huh? Really?" Was all that the busty blonde managed in response.

"Yes. Of course, if there is anything you need to tell us, that would be appreciated, as we could then take that into consideration." The smile never left the captain's face.

"Huh… Thanks…" Yang responded.

"No problem, now I've got to go, it seems like Ryusei might have some problems, and we have a live exercise to perform." Aya excused herself and left swiftly.

"Huh… We kind of should have expected something along the lines of that now that I think about it." She said bewilderedly to her partner as they watched their superior leave.

_**-Break—**_

She flew forwards, her Lion sending up a great trail of spouting water as it swept across the ocean's surface. She was loving it, the speed, the pushing forces, the weight and power of the machine. It was, for lack of a better word, amazing.

"Rose, pull up. You're coming up on an island chain, and we don't want you to crash into a cliff." A voice told her over the com-link.

"Oh, got it." She responded, her voice filled with the joy she felt.

She raised her altitude, catching sight of the islands she was coming up on as she did so. She also noticed something else, two white shapes that most certainly wasn't part of the scenery.

She checked the sensors, who told her that there were three contacts on the island, PTs. That wasn't good, the Lion was not yet to be revealed to the EFA, the Earth Federation Army, and those PTs were definitely part of it.

"Contacts! Personal Troopers! Three of them!" She shouted over the com-link.

"What? Can you disengage before they notice you?" Adler's unpleasant voice responded.

Ruby kind of preferred when she was blissfully ignorant of his presence.

"No. I'm getting a demand for identification. I think they've noticed me." Ruby said unhappily.

"Damn… Engage and eliminate them, don't let them inform their superiors." Adler ordered harshly.

Ruby clicked her tongue in annoyance. She really didn't want to have to kill those people. Unfortunately, Adler was still in charge, seeing as Bian wasn't there.

And, of course, you can only ignore demands of identification for so long, and she had to roll her machine sideways to avoid a beam fired from the third PT that she hadn't been able to see, as it had blended in better with its dark yellow colouring.

She fired her Railgun in response, having gained enough practise that she was nearly as accurate with it as she was with Crescent Rose. Even so, she missed as the heavy machine somehow managed to leap aside using its thrusters.

The return fire forced her to evade again, the superior manoeuvrability of the Lion serving her well as her opponent was ridiculously accurate, even at the ranges they were at.

Even as they were exchanging fire the other two were approaching, and soon their oversized machineguns added their own bullets to the barrage aimed at her (well, in their hands they looked normal).

She responded by launching a barrage of homing missiles at them, all the while taking a few pot-shots at the sniper.

To her satisfaction she managed to land a few hits, although the damage was only superficial, and didn't really affect performance. In return, she took a glancing hit herself, melting some of the armour and damaging the wing slightly.

She then only barely managed to avoid a flying spinning blade that came from nowhere, but was unable to completely avoid the second, losing the missile launcher on the right arm. She managed to see another set of blades launched by one of the white PTs, but was still slightly caught off guard as they veered around, somehow changing course and following her movements.

Using a boost of speed she evaded them and used the inbuilt Gatling guns to score several hits on the offender, managing to damage the leg and tear off an arm as she sped past. Despite her speed though she was still hit by machinegun fire from the other one, and took another glancing hit from the sniper's beam cannon.

"Dammit! Rose! Withdraw! We can't afford to let the test model be damaged any further!" Adler suddenly gave the order to retreat.

"Understood. Withdrawing."

Ruby made a wide turn, turning back towards where she came from as she raised the speed as much as she could, the machine shaking a little as it broke the sound barrier.

That could most certainly have gone better…

* * *

**Author's notes: Well, that was interesting. What do you people think? Was it good? Or was it terrible? I've also been trying to figure out what exactly to call Weiss' new personalities. Any good ideas? I'll admit I might not quite have thought that decision through properly. Ehehee... (o_o') (I really don't know how to make these)**

**I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

Yang and Blake were stunned as the other members of the SRX team returned, Rai's Schutzwald and Ryusei's Gespenst had only suffered minor damage, but Aya's Gespenst had taken some serious damage, the right arm was completely torn off, and the right leg seemed inoperable.

"What happened?" Yang asked the returning pilots as they approached.

"We engaged an unknown mobile weapon. As you can see, we took some damage, and while we scored a few hits ourselves, it still got away." Rai informed them curtly.

"Still… it was pretty neat." Ryusei said softly to himself.

Rai shot him an irritated glare before marching off.

"Well, Mr. Ice Prince is grumpy." Yang said half-jokingly.

Blake smiled slightly while the others looked at Yang weirdly.

"He's always grumpy I think…" Ryusei replied unhappily.

"We need to go, the higher ups want to hear about this incident." Aya interjected, causing Ryusei to sigh deeply.

"Yeah, sorry, you heard her. Got to go." He then said apologetically.

"Don't sweat it." Yang said and waved him off.

As they turned to leave Aya seemed to remember something. "Oh yeah, Professor Ohmiya wanted to see you two. He should be waiting over in the hangar."

The dimensionally dislocated girls looked at each other before they headed off towards the hangar.

_**-Break—**_

Robert Hajime Ohmiya, Rob for short, is the SRX project's head developer and technician. He is a man of average height, with long blonde hair bound into a pony-tail in the back with two unruly bangs sticking out in the front and sharp intelligent dark blue eyes. He also has a pair of spectacles, much like Ozpin. He also wears a dark blue lab-coat with red over the shoulders and the edge up front.

This was also the first time Yang and Blake actually met him in person.

He was standing in the hangar overlooking the transfer of two large containers, all the while looking at some data.

Noticing their approach he moves up to meet them.

"Ah, you must be Blake and Yang, correct?" He greeted them happily.

"Yeah, so… you're Rob then?" Yang answered cheerfully.

He chuckled a little. "Yes, I'm Rob. And I have some good news for you." He indicated the two massive containers. "In these are the machines you will be given for now. Two brand new, Gespenst Mark IIs. Yeah, I know, not the most glamourous of units, but there really isn't anything else to give you."

"Huh. Okay, what's the difference?" Yang asked with a slightly confused look on her face.

"Difference?" Rob asked confusedly.

"I think she means between these and the Type-TTs." Blake clarified.

"Yeah. That's what I meant." The busty blonde happily added.

"I see, of course. Well, there really isn't all that much, mostly just that these don't have Rippers or the T-Link system. Other than that… Right! The Plasma Stakes. The right arm comes equipped with Plasma Stakes that can be used in melee combat!" The bespectacled man excitedly explained.

"Oh!" Yang excitedly exclaimed. "Does that mean I can punch things?"

"Well… yes, you can." Rob looked a bit bewildered at the odd statement.

"T-Link system?" Blake asked curiously, not really having heard it mentioned before.

"Eh? Oh...Umm… That's… just an experimental man-machine interface we're testing…" Rob hesitantly said as he gave an awkward chuckle.

"Oh… Okay. Neat." Yang accepted it at face-value while Blake was slightly suspicious. Still, she doubted it would be worth it to pry into the matter, and it could just as well be nothing special.

Although, she supposed it could be connected to that test they took…

If they are supposed to know they'll eventually find out… or be kicked from the project…

Yeah, she wasn't going to follow that line of thought any further.

Still she was interested in trying out a real PT instead of just going in the simulator. And judging by Yang's expression, she was quite excited by the prospect, probably because of the Plasma Stakes.

Too bad they were both blue…

_**-Break—**_

Ruby walked through the small cottage, eyes wandering about, taking in all the details. It was sparsely decorated, with a few bookcases. There was also a cupboard, upon which a picture frame was situated. Inside was the picture of a young girl, maybe in her late teens.

She had shoulder length blonde hair, clear blue eyes and a blue headband.

"Who's that?" Ruby asked, indicating the picture.

"My daughter." The gruff voice of Bian Zoldark replied. "Her name is Ryune." Ruby turned to look at the man, and saw only affection in his gaze.

"Where is she?" Ruby knew she was prying, but her curiosity about the daughter that causes one of the most determined men she had ever seen to have such an expression was too strong.

"Right now she should be by Jupiter, training. She always was a headstrong girl of solid morals. She wants no part in the DC." Bian laughed mirthfully.

Ruby suspected he was actually relived that his daughter stayed out of the coming conflict. It surprised her really, he looked cold and ruthless most of the time, but sometimes his compassion shone through. That was one of the main reasons she had agreed to join him. She felt, on some level, that he was right. That his cause was just.

A large dog walked up to him. She thought it might be a Doberman, but she didn't really know. The harsh looking man patted its head, a small smile on his face.

"You know Miss Rose, I always wondered, that red metal box you always carry, what is it?" He suddenly asked, a thoughtful expression on his face.

"Oh, this?" Ruby took Crescent Rose from its place at the small of her back. "Actually…" She hesitated a bit. "It's a weapon…" She finally decided to say.

She then let the massive sniper-scythe unfold, displaying it in all its glory.

Bian's eyes widened in surprise, but this soon turned to curiosity as he started evaluating it.

"Oh, impressive. To think that you were carrying such a thing all this time… How does it function?" Bian's curiosity could be heard as he questioned her.

And so Ruby started explaining her darling as best she could…

_**-Break—**_

Somehow, as it turned out, Weiss' shyer self was somehow quite a natural when it came to piloting. She really didn't know how that might be either.

'_Will? Why are you so good at this?'_ She questioned her other self as they swerved around, shooting down a target.

'_I really don't know…' _Came the uncertain reply.

She sighed mentally.

'_Also… Will?'_

'_I have to call you __**something**__.'_

'_I see… Thanks… __Eis…'_

'_Hey!'_

Her only response was a small giggle. As it turned out, it was really hard to threaten yourself, as no matter what you did, it was empty, and easily seen through.

'_But… It really… suits you.'_

She grumbled unhappily.

As this was going on the last target was pierced with a Plasma Sword, some sort of energy sword.

Neither of them could figure out how it worked.

As they finished the simulation she took control again, sighing as she exited.

Her mood worsened as she saw a familiar grey haired man, Alteur.

"Not bad Miss Schnee. I have come with a bit of an offer. You see, with your aptitude I believe that you would do well with the army, and it will be a while yet before the gate can be opened again." He spoke up, that same old infuriatingly smug look on his face.

Eis wondered for a moment if this guy might actually be more smug than Neapolitan… but she decided not to pursue that thought further, for that way lay madness.

"I see… and? What's in it for me?" She asked suspiciously.

The man smiled, which only made him look even less trustworthy. "I will assist with your identity problem… And certainly you would prefer to be in action, no?"

'_That… sounds suspicious…'_

'_Yeah, but, if the others are also around, our chances will be much higher if we don't stay in the middle of nowhere.'_

"Okay… I'll take you up on that offer." She forced a smile as she offered her hand.

He shook it. "Good. I should be able to arrange a place aboard the Hiryu Kai, from there, I am certain things will get more interesting for you."

Eis really didn't like the sound of that, but she had no intention of backing down now…

_**-Break—**_

Ruby wasn't sure what was more amazing, the fact that Bian had kept up with her explanation, or that he now had an extensive schematic that should, in theory, work similarly to her Crescent Rose.

Also present, and looking at the schematic, was the person who had brought her there, and that she had seen briefly, Shu Shirakawa.

She reaffirmed her half-conscious assessment that he was incredibly handsome, but he was also a bit unsettling, a bit too unfazed by the things he saw, and a bit smug too. And, to top it all off, he was really, **really**, smart. He wasn't even 30 and he already had several PhDs. Yeah, nothing wrong here, nothing at all.

Almost fittingly, the machine he had arrived in, the Granzon, had probably been the most impressive she had seen yet. Imposing, a bit sinister, and absolutely awesome, she couldn't help but freak out a bit when she saw it.

Supposedly it had been conceived through the combined intellects of Bian and Shu, and had taken up a massive chunk of their budget to build. In exchange, it was the single most advanced and potent mobile weapon on Earth.

She wasn't sure about the exact details, but she didn't doubt those claims for a second.

Of course, Bian had, in response to her excitement at seeing the Granzon, revealed his own master piece, the Valsion. Standing exactly 57 metres tall, it was an incredible sight, its sharp and spiky design making it look equally, if not even more sinister, than the Granzon.

What confused Ruby though, was that, even despite the Granzon being, as she understood it, more powerful, the Valsion was the ace in the hole of the soon to be DC. The explanation was… kind of worrying. Shu was, for lack of a better word… fickle, and Bian was not about to trust him with the role of ace in the hole.

Or maybe more importantly, the purple haired genius had a different role. That of, amongst other things, observer… and possibly also judge.

He would, on the other hand, be given the task of firing the first shot of their insurrection.

She also found out that there was only one Valsion, while it was needless to say that there was only one Granzon, although, Bian did admit that he had made a sister machine to the Valsion, the Valsione, for his daughter.

Who would have known that the man who was soon to be the most notorious on, and around, Earth, actually had a massive soft spot for his daughter? Well, Ruby had suspected it since she found out about her, but still…

_**-Break—**_

In the darkness of the void between dimensions a figure laughed as he observed the girls he had taken from their original dimension. He also frowned slightly as he felt the interference of that annoying Time Diver again.

But even he couldn't do much about that guy. Maybe if he could trick him into a close encounter with Perfectio?

He shook his head. He would rather not approach that being if he could help it. The King of Ruin didn't have that name for nothing after all.

Besides, he was too busy distracting Regisseur to deal with that kind of problem right now. It wouldn't do to have him arrive too early after all, he wanted maximum entertainment, and that he could only get if those people were strong enough…

* * *

**Author's notes: Well, sorry this is mostly fluff and set up again, but I don't want to rush things too much. If you don't like it, feel free to leave a complaint so that I can take note of it... and most likely ignore it. Unless its constructive, in which case I will endeavour to keep it in mind. So yeah, feel free to tell me what you think, and to point out any mistakes you feel I might have made.**

**I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

Weiss (that is to say, both of her) hadn't really been sure what to expect of the Hiryu Kai. To her understanding it was a repurposed exploration ship that now served as a battleship…

She had read up on it of course, but there was little to prepare her for the massive behemoth of a vessel that the shuttle eventually rendezvoused with. It dwarfed even the Atlesian military airships…

Well, maybe not really, she would have to see them side by side to know for certain, but it was a lot larger than she had imagined… and it was bristling with weaponry, several cannons on top, with missile launchers built into the wings and missile tubes for anti-ship missiles near the front, which was shaped somewhat like a dragon's head.

She was just trying to figure out why they had built such a large exploration ship… wouldn't a smaller one be sufficient? As she was pondering these mysteries the shuttle docked with the ship, and she was told to get ready.

She sighed softly as she dismissed her musings… she could always ask someone if she really wanted to know. She picked up the bag of belongings she had gotten from Cliana… well, Chris to be more specific.

It still somewhat hurt her head trying to get heads and tails of the fact that Cliana was basically two people, Chris and Liana. While both were nice people at heart, Liana tended to be more cold and serious, while Chris was bubbly and friendly.

Of course, this conundrum was only aggravated by the fact that she was now also two people.

'_If it helps… I also… get a headache… trying to figure this out…'_ Will supplied in her usual timid manner.

'_No, it doesn't. It just gives me even more of a headache.'_ Eis retorted as she hefted their bag and walked towards the door.

Will usually preferred to let Eis be in control during their day to day activities where they would have to interact with people, mostly because she was closer to the original Weiss Schnee. Well, Will was so different from how they used to be that it was quite jarring for those who had met her before and after… made her wonder how her team would react.

Would they laugh? Would they not want to associate with her anymore? Would they be worried for her? These doubts continuously flowed through their minds, one of the rare things they were in perfect harmony about… kind of, Eis was more worried they would laugh at them and Will was more worried they would leave them.

The first thing she noted as she stepped aboard the ship was that the corridors were rather small. Not to the level where she couldn't walk upright or anything, there was plenty of room for people far larger than her, and at least three people could walk abreast, but she would have thought that with such a large vessel they could afford bigger corridors, perhaps?

Maybe she shouldn't judge, she was only really used to transport ships and luxurious personal craft, not military vessels.

The second thing she noted was the captain of the ship, Lefina Enfield, if only because she hadn't expected to meet her so soon.

She was a young woman with short curly red hair, clear blue eyes and fair features. She was clad what resembled a white/light-purple cloak covering her upper body, hiding its shape completely, with dark-purple trims and a flap over her chest with gold trims. Around the collarbone was purple plates with gold trims, and over her left shoulder she had a shoulder plate in some dark-blue metal with a medal of some kind hanging from underneath it. A pair of red gold trimmed strips could be seen under the lower edge, and she had white gloves on.

Her lower body was covered by a knee-long brown skirt, and she had a pair of boots covering the rest of her legs that were black most of the way, and then white by the heels and toes. She carried a ceremonial blade at her hip and atop her head rested a large white hat with a dark-purple rim and a golden decoration up front.

If nothing else, she was prim and proper, if quite young, her file stating her to only be 19 years old. 19! She was barely older than her, and already captain of her own ship… And quite beautiful as well.

Next to her stood a tall man with grey hair bound in a small ponytail in the back and a grey moustache with sharp dark-green eyes. His features were aged, but still sharp, and she could easily imagine the man having been quite the looker back in his days.

He had a red uniform vest with white trims and a white collar/shoulder attachment covering his shoulders and some of the front and back. He had white puffed sleeves and white gloves, as well as white pants and a pair of brown boots.

That would be Sean Webley, the XO of the ship.

"Welcome aboard the Hiryu Kai Miss Schnee." He said. "We have heard much good about you. A prodigious sheltered princess… Hoh yes…" He gave her an appraising look, and not in a good way.

"Sean, please refrain from inappropriate comments about the new crew member." The captain spoke up. "I am Lefina Enfield, captain of the Hiryu Kai, and this is my XO Sean Webley. We would like to welcome you aboard the ship." She proffered a hand.

"Thank you Captain, it is a pleasure to meet you." Weiss shook the proffered hand with a smile. The captain seemed like a decent person, and she already kind of liked her. Unfortunately the same couldn't quite be said about the XO, who seemed to be a bit lecherous.

And it was readily apparent that he approved of what he saw. At least he wasn't staring at her too much, and he seemed like a decent enough person otherwise. At least she hoped, she was probably going to work with these people for quite some time.

Wait… did he call her a sheltered princess? What did Alteur tell them exactly?

_**-Break—**_

Blake had finally gotten a uniform that was not the same as Aya's. Instead it consisted of a more conservative piece that properly covered more of the chest and the shoulders. It would have to do, and Blake actually couldn't really complain considering it was no worse than what she usually wore.

And, even better, her less… human features hadn't been brought up even once. If anyone knew, they didn't let it affect their interactions with her.

Which she appreciated a lot.

So she and Yang had gone to get more acquainted with their Gespenst, only for her to find out that Yang had somehow managed to convince the engineers to repaint them in their colours.

So Yang had gotten a golden yellow with some browns, while Blake had gotten black with white highlights. She had to say, it made them look even more interesting than before, if only to a small degree.

As it turned out, these things were pretty heavy, something which was hard to truly appreciate while in a simulator. So as they took a short while to adjust the SRX team waited for them patiently. This of course mystified them slightly.

That was, up until the moment tanks suddenly opened fire on them. As Ryusei and Aya smoothly danced around the rounds and Rai made a small hop out of the way, Yang and Blake just barely managed to avoid them, taking only a few small glancing hits.

"Hey! What's the big idea!?" Yang shouted over the coms.

"These tanks are unmanned drones loaded with live rounds. Destroy them." Ingram's smooth, cold voice responded.

"You could have given us some forewarning." Blake said annoyed.

"You don't always get forewarning on the battlefield. Don't forget that." Ingram replied.

Yang simply clicked her tongue in annoyance and unloaded the shotgun she had the engineers supply her machine with in a tank, shredding it and causing the ammunition to explode, destroying it completely.

Blake instead took her distance, targeting another with her machinegun, wrecking the turret and treads before launching a group of missiles from the launchers installed on the Gespenst back. They flew fast and true and impacted upon a pair of tanks in close formation, severely damaging both and allowing Yang's shotgun to destroy them both.

Yang then proceeded to activate the Plasma Stakes, driving them into a tank with a high speed punch, tearing straight through the armour and continuing out the other side as the combat vehicle exploded behind her.

Yang whooped in joy in response to this.

Blake in the meanwhile capitalised on the excellent distraction Yang provided to slice one tank apart with the plasma sword while it tried to track the speeding golden blur, before following up with an energized punch of her own into another.

Elsewhere the SRX team was tearing the tanks to shreds, Ryusei up front with machine gun blazing, while Aya provided support with remote controlled blades that deftly tore their targets apart, all the while Rai provided long range support with his beam cannons, destroying groups of tanks with expertly placed shots.

And before they knew it, the last tank was blown apart as Blake and Yang both tore into it with their Plasma Stakes, resulting in a spectacular show as the tank was torn in four pieces. That promptly exploded, because apparently there was ammunition in all of the pieces.

At least that was what Blake assumed.

Blake had made it out of the impromptu exercise relatively unharmed, apart from the small glancing hits she took at the start she only had a damaged shoulder pad.

Yang on the other hand… had several damages, one of the shoulder pads were gone, one of the legs barely had any armour plating left and the head was missing a large chunk of its right side. Also, it turned out that the left arm holding the Plasma Stakes had been worn down heavily by overuse, something which left every one of them surprised, as you would think it could handle use… right?

"Not bad." Came Ingram's voice once again as he approached them. "For a first time that was quite magnificent, although Miss Xiao Long could use some lessons in caution."

"Yeah, well, if I had been told to expect combat I wouldn't have been caught off guard and might even have been able to avoid most of the damage." Yang snarled back.

"Perhaps, but it is your own fault for not heeding my advice to always be prepared. I shouldn't need to tell you to keep an eye on your surroundings." Ingram retorted before turning to Aya instead. "I need you to prepare yourselves. You have a mission to Antarctica, and you need to get ready. Here are the details." Ingram handed her a file.

"Antarctica, Major? Why there?" Ryusei asked confusedly.

"The details are in the file I handed to Aya. Now get going." Ingram responded and turned heel and left.

"So, what's this mission all about?" Yang asked curiously.

Aya eyed through the papers. "We are to guard an unveiling for the Shirogane and the EOTI's newest machine the Granzon." Her expression showed a small hint of confusion.

"Why in Antarctica? That is an unusual place to hold an unveiling ceremony." Ryusei said wonderingly.

"What's so weird about holding it in Antarctica?" Yang queried.

"Well, you know… It's in the middle of nowhere, and it's cold. Doesn't really make a lot of sense." Ryusei supplied while looking at Yang oddly.

"Oh… Right. That makes sense." Yang said, clearly embarrassed at her lack of knowledge.

"It doesn't matter, if the higher ups decide to hold it in Antarctica, then they will hold it in Antarctica. And if they tell us to guard it, we guard it. We don't question their orders." Rai said coldly, seemingly annoyed.

"Well, we'll leave as soon as repairs are finished, so get ready, okay?" Aya said as authoritatively as she could.

Blake, having understood the point of not questioning orders from the get go, dragged Yang with her, cutting any possible argument short.

She wasn't too keen on going to a cold location though. She just hoped it wasn't too cold… and that nothing bad happened.

* * *

**Author's notes: Poor Blake, she doesn't know what she's getting into. So hopefully from now on things will get a bit more... hectic. Not too much, but at least a far higher frequency with the action. Speaking of which, did you enjoy the little fight scene I had there? Or was it a bit... It's kind of different writing a fight of this type than it is to write one where everyone is fighting directly without any form of vehicles. Also, anyone have any actual idea how large the battleships are? There is basically nothing to actually indicate how large they are, and there are very little where you can compare them to something reasonable. I don't know, maybe I'm just too lazy to actually figure it out.**

**I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

Weiss had to say, she really liked Captain Enfield. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said of Lieutenant Tarask.

Maybe it was because she was foul-mouthed, maybe it was because of her rough attitude (something which caused Will to giggle for no apparent reason) or maybe it was because the first thing the heterochromatic woman said to her was:

"Great, some spoiled brat that thinks she is better because she has a fancy Personal Trooper."

This had confused her up until the moment an engineer provided an answer. Along with her arrival a Gespenst mark II coloured white had been delivered. All the while Katina (that was the lieutenant's first name) was stuck in an F-28 Messer.

That was to say a boring fighter jet with paper thin armour, in the lieutenant's own words.

He also said that she shouldn't let that lull her into thinking the lieutenant's attitude would get better, as she was like that most of the time.

"Oh, and my name is Tasuku Shinguji. It's nice to see a cute girl aboard." The engineer then said with a grin.

She took a closer look at him. He was relatively tall… although considering that she was the shortest member of team RWBY, that might be deceptive. He was also young, maybe only a year older than her.

He had spiky purple hair much of which was covered by a green bandana and purple eyes, he was also clad in the standard uniform, which she didn't even pay any attention to.

"Weiss Schnee, and while I am flattered, I would prefer if you didn't hit on me... it creeps me out." She introduced herself with a flippant huff.

'_You didn't… need to be… so harsh on him…'_ Will shyly provided her opinion.

'_What? It's the truth.'_ She retorted.

Well, hopefully it wouldn't get that much worse from there on.

Although she wasn't happy to hear that the Hiryu was headed towards Antarctica to provide protection for some ceremony…

Really? In that frozen hell-scape? Who in their right mind would do something like that?

Sounded a bit fishy to her…

_**-Break—**_

As Blake found out, she had been oh so wrong in thinking it was kind of cold… It was as if the very concept of heat had no hold here.

Luckily the cockpit of her Gespenst was relatively warm, and the pilot suit helped a lot.

She seriously couldn't understand how Ryusei could be standing there looking around with the hatch open.

It made no sense to her.

They were guarding the perimeter of a military base, all the while one of the things being unveiled at the ceremony, the Shirogane, a massive warship that made the Atlesian ones look diminutive, and lightly armed, hovered lazily inside the dock.

All they were waiting for now was the machine being unveiled by the EOTI, the Granzon, to make its appearance.

Even as she was thinking this, a large hatch opened, allowing an elevator to rise… and revealing the Granzon…

Its design made it appear sinister, the cold dark blue armour-plating doing little to alleviate that thought.

Rumours had it that in the right, or wrong, depending on how one saw it, hands, it was capable of destroying the world. Not a very pleasant thought at all.

"Hold fire unless ordered otherwise." Came a grizzled voice over the radio.

'_Hold fire? There should be no need to-'_

An odd phenomenon interrupted her line of thought, causing the sensors to go wild. She looked up in the sky, and saw something that brought to mind the appearance of that giant gate…

"The hell is that!? It looks like-! "Yang's shouting over a private line between their two units told her that she had the same thought.

Then the rippling distortion became a full blown tempest.

And then suddenly in the skies there appeared something… it was kind of reminiscent of a flower… its dark hull curving into a sharp edge, while green crystal like spikes formed what could be considered to resemble the petals of a flower, although most of them spiked upwards.

A smaller, shuttle like object descended from it.

'_Wait? What's going on? What is that thing?'_ A myriad confused thoughts ran through her head…

Then she noticed something… it was difficult to make out, but a white clad man was approaching the Granzon. Letting the sensors zoom in on him, she found that it was Dr Shu Shirakawa, co-creator and pilot of the Granzon.

Really though? They let a scientist pilot something like that?

Then another thought struck her, he wasn't supposed to be piloting it right now, right?

So why was he getting in-?

The most likely answer struck her like a bolt of lightning from a clear sky as the Granzon powered up.

There was another rumour that had been circulating around, and her hearing was not something she could control, so she heard most of them, whatever she wanted to or not.

That was… that the EOTI was planning a coup…

Suddenly the devilish machine sprung to life, a hole in space forming before it as the chest piece lit up with energy… and unleashed a stream of beams into the hole.

Moments later more holes appeared all around the unknown ship, beams raining into it from all sides and causing untold amounts of damage.

In retaliation it unleashed a swarm of bug like machines that immediately opened fire upon the nearest defenders.

Of course, as they swarmed out, even they would eventually turn into targets.

As Blake evaded a ring-shaped burst of energy that melted into the snow and concrete below, she started considering ignoring her orders in favour of surviving, because at this rate they would all die.

"Dammit! All units! Return fire!" A more youthful voice ordered over the radio.

She happily obliged firing her machinegun at the nearest bug. It took a few hits, but she managed to shoot it down.

Elsewhere the SRX team was doing an admirable job at thinning the enemy ranks, although that might just be something to expect.

Yang was doing her level best, which was to say, blast them with her shotgun and charge into them and deliver a devastating punch using the Plasma Stake if the opportunity presented itself.

As Blake dodged yet another stream of energy, she caught sight of the Granzon, which hadn't moved even the slightest bit. She wondered how it could be undamaged even so, when the answer became apparent to her.

It had some sort of barrier defending it from attacks.

Yeah, she didn't want to fight that…

That was just plain unfair on every level.

_**-Break—**_

Even as all this was happening, Weiss had already been forced into her first piece of action as a member of the Hiryu Kai.

They had suddenly been attacked by a veritable swarm of bug-like machines, and Katina and her squad mate, Russel she think his name was, had launched without even being ordered to.

At least they could have the common courtesy of waiting for orders? What if the Captain would rather retreat?

For some reason she doubted the word even existed in the Lieutenant's vocabulary, but that remained to be seen.

The biggest problem Weiss faced at the moment was probably the fact that she was fighting in the ocean, and the Gespenst wasn't designed with that in mind, so it was incredibly difficult to move.

But just as she was about to be rammed by one of the bugs, a red blur crashed into it, and then through it with a loud bang while Weiss could only look on astonished.

As the blur stopped she could finally get a look at it.

What met her eyes was what could only be described as the most stupidly built machine she had ever seen. It had massive boxes on the shoulders, and it looked like it had really heavy armour. One of its arms sported a large pile-driver, and it sported more thrusters than was reasonable.

And somehow, this machine that should, in no way, be able to keep its balance, was not only standing, but tearing into the bug-like machines.

It was then followed by a machine that was approximately twice as large, actually looked more like an armoured man than anything she had seen up till this point, and carried a massive sword with which it was tearing apart anything that got in the way.

That was to say when it simply didn't just shoot its fist at them.

It was also shrugging off the enemy fire like it was mere annoyances.

Finally after this two more Gespensts followed, one in the standard blue, and another in a more grey tone of white, rather than her Gespenst's pure white.

Why someone had seen fit to paint it like that was a question she had no answer for.

At least things had gone from, we're all going to die to… well, they shouldn't have any problem at all.

Then another new arrival appeared. Flying with immense speed, it reminded her of some kind of bird… and it seemed to her far different from what was even possible at the time.

It just didn't seem to have been built with normal techniques…

It didn't help that it gave her a feeling that was kind of akin to what she would feel from Hunters… like it was infused with Aura… yet not.

After a short conversation between the pilot, or pilots, considering she heard more than one voice… also, did one of them say meow? Weiss had gained some sort of confirmation that it was indeed not made by the Federation. Or at least not by anyone that had told their Captain…

It then provided help, showing off its great speed and power as it dealt with its enemies.

And then, as suddenly as it had appeared, it left, leaving them with an impression that it was like the wind… although Weiss couldn't help but feel that she expected rose petals to appear from where it started…

_**-Break—**_

On Yang and Blake's end they had finally finished off the last bug, and the flower-like ship had left much in the same way it appeared.

As they sighed breaths of relief however, the Granzon once again came to life, a major amount of energy gathering as it opened the chest piece… and a ball of gravitational distortion appeared, aimed at the Shirogane.

They tried to stop it, the Shirogane even aiming its cannons at the Granzon… yet it was all in vain as the ball was launched, tearing through the sky and hitting the Shirogane… before expanding into a massive gravitational anomaly that pulled in everything around it before imploding… and leaving nothing in its wake.

The Shirogane had only barely made it out in one piece, but the damage it had suffered was extensive enough that it could not maintain itself… and it crashed into the ground.

Then, as if to add insult to injury, the Granzon proceeded to unleash a powerful barrage of similar gravitational distortions that destroyed all the other defenders, leaving only the members of the SRX team, as well as Yang and Blake.

And they were helpless before the machine before them, their weapons woefully inadequate to do more than leave scratches, as the barrier didn't block damage entirely, instead simply mitigating it.

In retaliation, every swing of its sword left little but wreckage behind it, and those beams it fired tore through their armour like wet paper.

But suddenly something new appeared. A bird like humanoid weapon that flew like the wind, kind of like Ruby actually.

What followed was what Yang could only describe as a stare-down between two immense, inhuman entities.

The Granzon, well, Yang just refused to accept that it could have been built by human hands.

The other one… it was simply… different. And, for some reason, she thought it exuded Aura… but that was impossible, right? There was no way that this machine was somehow infused with what was essentially life-force, right?

It was simply too big. Sure, one could do something like that with a weapon… but with something of that scale? How is the pilot even still alive?

Of course, this was all idle thoughts made in what was basically a state of delirium.

After what seemed like ages of the two machines staring at each other, the Granzon simply upped and left.

It just floated above the clouds and disappeared.

The other, unknown machine speed off again to who knows where.

And Yang's last idle thought as exhaustion claimed her was.

'_I wonder how Ruby's doing?'_

* * *

**Author's notes: Hmm... I can't say if I made this part of the events justice or not... So, yeah, how was it? I'm curious really. I wonder what Ruby would think about the Cybuster? I always did feel that if Ruby was in Masou Kishin she would be wind though. But yeah... Actually, that is a neat idea for a story as well... But not now, two is one too many really, at least when you are like me. Oh well, enough rambling.  
**

**I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

Ruby's opinion of the Granzon had in but a few moments turned from 'Potentially world destroying and kind of scary but really cool at the same time' to 'The most epic weapon ever created with power beyond her imagination and she had really good imagination when it came to weapons'.

Or something along those lines at least.

Why?

Simple really, she had the unexpected honour and pleasure to be allowed to tag along with the mysterious doctor.

And one of the first things she took note of apart from the obvious was that there was something very ominous about the Granzon… some kind of presence or force.

It also seemed to have the ability to run on something akin to Aura…

She wasn't really sure about that part, but she was pretty sure that the people of this world didn't use their own life-force for anything…

Yeah, she was certain she would have heard about that by now, considering how much she had looked into the weaponry and technology of this world.

But she was digressing.

Right now Bian was holding a speech broadcasted to the entire world stating his intention to rebel as well as announcing the formation of the Divine Crusaders.

She wasn't really listening.

Did she mention the Granzon could teleport? No? Because it could, and she had experienced it directly.

It was kind crazy, what with the Granzon tearing a wormhole and using that.

Yeah, that machine was more powerful than anything she had ever seen, that was for sure.

Her mind wandered slightly, making her think of those Gespenst she had seen…

One yellow and one black…

And the black one was definitely not the original…

Could it have been…?

She shook her head to clear those decidedly dark thoughts and turned it to something else that interested her, that other, unknown machine that had appeared…

And that had contacted Dr Shirakawa…

Whoever the pilot was he knew the man…

And he had known the pilot, Masaki was it? Especially it one considered their conversation.

Which was really weird… Trying to destroy the surface as well?

And Shirakawa's response… Not yet…

Not to mention, that machine… it had also been using life-force… at least that was what it had felt like.

It was also kind of like the wind. Really fast. She kind of wanted to race it, but she didn't think she had any way of winning.

Not unless she could somehow induce her semblance in a Lion…

Was that possible? Maybe Dr Shirakawa could think of a way…

She was kind of afraid to ask though, the man was really unsettling at times…

She decided to try to think happier thoughts. So her mind returned to that unknown machine…

And for some reason she found herself humming some tune that she wasn't quite sure where she had heard.

'_The wind is calling, someday I heard its call…'_

_**-Break—**_

As it turned out, their sudden reinforcements had been the ATX-team, a team of test pilots gathered to pilot concept machines…

Although currently they only had the Gespenst Mark-III, or the Alteisen, although Aura help you if you used that name in front of its creator, Dr Marion Radom, a red-haired scientist with a temper, and the Grungust Type-0, a massive machine that stood at somewhere around twice the height of the Personal Troopers, and with a sword almost equally large.

They were supposed to have other units, but they were not yet ready.

As for the pilots themselves…

Their leader, Major Sänger Zonvolt, was a man of impressive stature and physical build, with silvery hair and clad in a red long-coat with shoulder plates, white pants and knee-high black boots with metal plating on the feet.

His manner of speech was also quite archaic, and his personality could only be described as that of an honourable warrior with a lot of eccentricities.

Second was a woman who was probably more eccentric than Yang, Ruby, Pyrrha and Nora combined, with a similarly flirtatious personality to Yang's and a streak of craziness that matched Nora's… Ensign Excellen Browning.

She had long orange hair tied into a ponytail at the back and blue eyes, and wore a white jacket with red shoulder plates (was that a theme with this team?) and black gloves, underneath that she had a red bodice and a short red skirt. On her legs were black stockings reaching all the way to her thighs and on her feet were a pair of red high-heeled boots.

And the absolutely first thing she did was call Weiss 'Snow Angel'. Brilliant.

She was expecting that out of some guy, not a girl.

Third was Ensign Brooklyn Luckfield, the most normal out of the team. Reasonably built and youngest, closer to her age, with short, slightly spiky blonde hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a sleeveless leather west with a dark blue shirt underneath, a pair of jeans and a pair of boots on his feet.

And lastly, but most certainly not least, considering he was the pilot of the Mark-III, was Lieutenant Kyousuke Nanbu, a man, much like Sänger, with a strong physique, musculature clear even through his clothes. He had spiky brown hair that became almost blonde in the tips and sharp brown eyes. He wore a red jacket with shoulder plates, underneath which a black shirt could be seen. On his legs were a pair of red pants, and he had a pair of beige boots on his feet. He also had a pair of gloves on his hands.

He also seemed like the most serious member, although the way he just accepted their antics implied to Weiss that he actually enjoyed it.

They seemed like nice enough people, if a bit eccentric, which was nothing she wasn't used to, although when she introduced herself she did get an odd look from the Major.

As it turns out, he was German, and in his language her name means White Snow, but is pronounced differently.

Weiss' excuse was to claim that she was from the colonies, which seemed like it was accepted, if slightly suspected.

She was less happy when Excellen (the woman insisted she not be so formal with her) tried to rope her into wearing a bunny outfit.

Yeah, no.

_**-Break—**_

Yang was sitting nursing her wounded pride while shivering slightly whenever she remembered that gravity distorting demon…

She was only half-paying attention to the broadcast announcing the formation of the Divine Crusaders and their declaration of war on the Earth Federation government.

Great, she hadn't needed to deal with enough rebellions in her time apparently.

Fate could be a real bitch at times.

As she sat there her thoughts turned towards her baby sister, Ruby, that wondrous bundle of innocence and positivity that swished about at high speeds leaving only rose-petals behind.

She wondered where she was. Chances were decent that she was in the same world as them, as at least two of them were there. Chances were smaller that she was part of the Federation Army.

Although the SRX-Team were irregulars, test pilots who weren't really part of the standard command structure.

They may operate from the Far East Brigade's Izu base, but they weren't really part of the Far East Brigade.

At least that was how Yang had understood it.

The gist of the whole thing was that Yang wasn't part of the regular EFA, as the army's name was shortened.

Thinking about it, were was Weiss? While Yang didn't hold the princess as dearly as her darling Ruby, she was still a teammate, and as such important to her.

She just hoped Ruby didn't see her get massacred like that… that would be oh so embarrassing for the older sister. Not to mention Yang wasn't sure how Ruby would react to such events.

After all, Ruby was, as she had mentioned to herself before, an innocent young lady.

Luckily they should have at least some time to recover, if only because their machines were still in the middle of repairs after the heavy damages they had sustained.

Still, really? Rebelling because the Earth is under the threat of an attack from outside?

That was kind of… well, it seemed a bit illogical, although Yang assumed that was only because she didn't have all the facts, a problem probably only aggravated by the fact that she wasn't listening to the broadcast…

And for some inexplicable reason the mental image of Weiss in a bunny outfit popped into her head…

Well, that would probably turn quite a few heads, Weiss wasn't entirely without assets after all.

Yang snickered slightly to herself.

_**-Break—**_

So… That had been enlightening. The young girl Ruby Rose most certainly possessed something akin to Prana that she radiated around her, like a shield perhaps.

This was something Shu Shirakawa had suspected since he first lay eyes on the young girl.

He had also noticed that she seemed to have a degree of sensitivity towards Prana, as she seemed to have noticed several of the Granzon's hidden features.

Not to mention that it seemed to him that she had noticed that Prana coursed throughout the Cybuster.

It did make him wonder if she was actually from La Gias, but he was also quite certain she wasn't, otherwise she would have instantly identified the legendary Masou Kishin (magic clad machine god) of wind.

So she it was something else…

Still, there was one thing he knew for certain, she had power, and she might be able to stand against him…

And that was something he would happily nurture, while he was able to…

He had looked at the schematic of her unique weapon that Bian had created, and while it would be difficult to create on Earth… in La Gias it would not.

It seemed he needed to make a trip back… after all, there were things he wanted to do there now.

Ruby Rose… He felt certain that her presence was an anomaly, but even so, as long as she was there, he would use her for his own benefit…

And for that he would need her to be as strong as possible.

For he did not want to seek the destruction of this world…

_**-Break—**_

The silver haired teen frowned as he observed this new timeline. It was familiar, certainly, yet contained a massive anomaly.

Four people from another dimension more than there was supposed to be.

At this point there should only be one.

And a half, depending on how one defined **that man**.

Why was it that all these timelines were so damn crazy?

In his own they had swarms of massive space monsters and all manners of crazy aliens.

In another he had seen there was a robot the size of the universe. That then produced a drill twice its own size to destroy another the same size… all while supported by robots both familiar and new that had somehow grown to the same size.

Kick reason to the curb indeed.

And that was only the halfway point too.

Seriously, what the actual fuck?

Unfortunately, he did not yet have any ability to intervene in this timeline.

All he could do was try to talk to this timelines version of his predecessor. Which wasn't really all that useful, and had even at one point resulted in a mental battle between the two of them.

Seriously, that version of that person wasn't supposed to even know that machine existed.

And in the void in-between, the devilish machine that ran on the souls of the dead continued its vigil…

* * *

**Author's notes: So... I didn't really have much to say this chapter, so I just said a lot of stuff instead... Of course, much of it still has plot relevance...**

**Also, for the whole Masou Kishin thing, it doesn't really have any reasonable ways to translate it... I suppose I should just have used the localized name for it but... Then what would I call the normal MasouKi? If anyone has any suggestions it would be nice.**

**Suggestions in general would actually be kind of nice... And people's opinions as well.**

**Oh yeah, Sänger is totally the correct way to write his name. That way you get kind of how they pronounce it in Japanese. Also, the guy is supposedly German, right? Yet he talks like a samurai from the 17th-century. And damn am I digressing here.**

**Anyway I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

It was… messy. The EFA was hard-pressed to deal with the sudden uprising of the Divine Crusaders, who employed weaponry beyond what they had at the moment, and who were aided by a distressing number of EFA traitors.

And so it was that Yang and Blake found themselves assisting in the defence of another military base in the region, aiding the local garrison, or what was left of it anyways, in driving off the Divine Crusaders.

Which wasn't easy when their opponents were all airborne, while they only had the fighter jets from the local garrison. And even then, the enemy employed the supposedly yet to be completed next generation fighter jets.

Luckily, the remaining squadron of three on their side was quite competent. One especially skilfully took out several of the supposedly superior fighter jets alone. But fighter jets were mostly worthless against the Armoured Modules, and while their allies pulled their own weight, it was ultimately up to them in their PTs to drive them off.

Still, it was going well, and when the enemy retreated it seemed they had succeeded, until it turned out the enemy had launched an HMAPW at them.

At first Blake and Yang had been confused as to why they were ordered to leave the area immediately.

The answer came in the form of a massive explosion that tore the base they had been defending apart. To say they were upset was… a massive understatement.

How was that any fair! They had been defending that place with their all! And then it just gets blown up from afar?!

Ryusei was of a similar mind, although, somewhat unsurprisingly, they were the only. The rest were prepared for that type of unfairness, for that was war.

And boy was it ugly.

With nowhere to return to the garrison squadron came with them, which meant they got to meet the people in it.

The first member they noticed was the tall, dark-skinned man known as Giado Venerdi with long braided black hair. And it was all braided, not just one or two braids, but several.

Next they noticed the shorter, yet still kind of tall woman, Garnet Sunday, with fair, light skin, and long pinkish-red hair with two curls framing her face.

And then came their little ace pilot, as Yang had jokingly said before she actually saw her… and immediately got kind of flustered as it turned out it was a young girl, possibly around Ruby's age, if not younger.

She had wavy, light-purple hair that stretched down to about her shoulders and her eyes were hidden by a pair of tinted glasses. She was introduced to them as Latune Subbota by Garnet, as the girl herself was too shy to introduce herself.

They were all wearing the same standard issue EFA uniforms, although Giado had his jacket open.

They were a lively and nice enough bunch, although Latune mostly remained stoic and drawn-back.

Blake was certain that the girl had not had a nice childhood, and Yang was inclined to agree. People her age should be more lively. Maybe not as much as Ruby, but still.

_**-Break—**_

Weiss was unhappy about their current situation.

First Major Sänger had gone AWOL after encountering an old acquaintance amongst their enemies, then their base had been blown up with a powerful long range weapon…

And now they were struggling to defend a launch pad for a really big rocket meant to go into space from the Divine Crusaders.

On the upside they had help in the form of a Gespenst and a Schutzwald, piloted by Major Gilliam Yeager and… Radha Bairaban, respectively. The latter had no rank, and seemed to be more of an attaché from Mao Industries, who were the people who wanted the package they were trying to send to begin with.

Well, struggling might have been too harsh of a way of putting it, as with both the Alteisen and the new Weißritter, they were tearing through any Armoured Modules that got close.

It was just as they were heaving a sigh of relief as it seemed they had succeeded, that disaster struck.

Or more exactly, a Lion just as all the others struck, piloted with great skill, and destroyed the launch pad, preventing the rocket from launching.

The way the Lion was piloted struck Eis as familiar… and Will agreed. It reminded them of both the Major, and their Leader.

Probably because they were both adept at going forwards quickly.

Neither was sure who they would prefer it be, since either way wasn't reassuring in the least.

It meant they would come to fight someone they knew personally after all.

Maybe it was preferable if it was the Major, as they didn't know him all **that** well…

'_But he was… kind of… a nice guy…'_ Will quipped unhelpfully.

It didn't help that the man was really frightening in a fight. And in a rare moment she had actually witnessed the man tear apart a training dummy… with a wooden sword.

So now, it was decided that the Hiryu would take the package into space. Which meant they would be heading into space as well. More precisely, to the Moon.

That was a prospect that interested Weiss, as she had mused what the Moon actually looked like. And this one wasn't a shattered mess like the one back on Remnant, so it would be really interesting to see how it looked.

Maybe she would even encounter someone she knew there, although the chances were pretty slim.

Her musings were cut short when Excellen decided to embrace her with a grin and a luminous blush.

"And how about our little Snow Princess? Are you excited to return to space? Or do you want big sis to comfort you?" The last line was delivered with not a little bit of suggestiveness in her voice as the buxom orange-haired woman ran a finger along her cheek.

But before Weiss could angrily retort at the madwoman the cool, calm voice of Kyousuke cut in.

"Excellen, don't bother her. She clearly doesn't care for your advances." There was a certain part of his voice that hinted that he had somewhat gotten the wrong idea, something which the person clinging on to her picked up.

And became flustered about.

"Ho- Hold on! Kyousuke! It's not like that!" She shouted as she rushed off after him.

Weiss just prayed to whatever powers might hear that this woman and Yang never met. It seemed to her like it would end in disaster.

_**-Break—**_

In a corner of the fabric of the space between dimensions the figure grinned malevolently.

Those two would meet… after all, it was inevitable the moment the blonde teen was drafted into the SRX-team.

Besides, it wouldn't be any fun otherwise, and screwing over the icy heiress was more amusing than it had expected…

_**-Break—**_

Ruby had been somewhat surprised. She had expected the EFA as a whole to put up a better fight really, but so far any real challenges had been far and few between.

It might have helped Ruby that she had become really adept at using the Lion, abusing it superior speed and manoeuvrability to its full extent as she ran circles around the PTs and fighter jets of the EFA.

She had been surprised then to find that they had been completely driven away from the launch pad they were attacking to aid their allies, the United Colony Corps, by denying the Federation loyalists remaining in space supplies.

It probably helped the defenders that they had the famous Hiryu as part of their force, as well as the newly formed ATX-team and their concept machines which were of far better quality, both in pilots and in actual machine performance, on top of the presence of a member of the famed Aggressors, Major Gilliam Yeager, who proved a dangerous adversary indeed, able to exchange long range fire with her and keep up with the Lions great speed.

Then some new guy came and finished the mission with a sudden blitz from an unexpected direction, bypassing the defenders and destroying the launch pad.

She later found out that the pilot was the former Aggressors member, Major Sänger Zonvolt, who had agreed to join their cause after a discussion with Bian and his fellow friend Major Elzam V. Branstein.

Where they all Majors or something?

Actually, wasn't Major Tempest Hawker, one of their commanders also a former member of that team?

"Ruby. A moment of your time perhaps?" The dark voice of Bian broke her out of her thoughts.

"Yes?" She replied simply. For some reason she couldn't quite bring herself to call the man commander, instead speaking to him in a casual manner most of the time.

It had almost gotten her into trouble, but Bian had shown that he didn't mind.

"We have a gift for you, something to truly make use of your skills." The older man chuckled slightly.

"I thought you were still struggling with some details?" Ruby asked curiously.

She had already been aware that they had been trying to prepare her something more suited to her personally, although last she had heard they had been stuck on some details.

"Yes, well, Dr Shirakawa provided the assistance needed to finish… as well as a small gift of his own." Bian said as he opened a pair of large bay doors, revealing a large Armoured Module.

She recognized it as the Guarlion, a new model of the Armoured Module that sported a more humanoid appearance, with a sleek torso with a wedge shape sticking out the front, long arms with wicked clawed hands and a pair of large bulky legs with fins by the knee joints.

Its shoulders were a pair of large wedges with fins attached to the sides, attached to the torso by smaller, aircraft wing like lengths. The head was similarly wedged, but unlike the standard model lacked the long wedge, which was instead shorter, and the fin on top, which was completely gone.

It looked like if some mad scientist had tried to cross a person with a plane.

But what really drew her attention were a few small details. One, it was in almost equal measures red and black, similar to how her usual outfit looked, two, it sported a rose design by the pelvic region…

And maybe most noticeably, it sported a red box attached to the small of the back in a manner suspiciously similar to her Crescent Rose… as a matter of fact, it was just the right dimensions.

"I thought it would be too difficult to properly replicate Crescent Rose." She simply stated, her voice quivering with excitement and wonderment.

"That is where I come in. I have access to rare materials and methods that makes it possible, and as such I took the liberty of preparing it, as a gift." The cool and smooth voice of Shu Shirakawa rung out behind her as she heard footsteps approach. "I also provided with some extra parts… to help it better match your capabilities."

Ruby almost shuddered, but her excitement won out, and she practically glomped the man in her joy.

"Thanks! Although… what do you mean 'extra parts'?" She asked after calming down a little.

"You will just have to find out. I assure you that once you have mastered this machine you will gain quite a bit of strength on the battlefield… perhaps even enough to tip the scale in coming conflicts." The purple-haired genius said as he chuckled ominously.

This time Ruby did shudder, and she was almost hesitant to use the unit now, although ultimately she was certain the man meant no harm, and she felt that he was more eager for her to gain strength than he let on…

Actually, she suspected the man was keeping quite a few secrets from them…

* * *

**Author's notes: And that was like three or four missions for each route just glossed over... sorry about that. Not to mention I probably completely messed up the order everything was in. As for everyone expecting something ridiculous for Ruby... No. She will have a custom machine from the Lion series... although with a few extra features, courtesy of a certain genius scientist and alchemist. Seriously though, Crescent Rose should in no way be a functional weapon, so it would take some messing about with special alloys and technologies. **

**Please tell me if you spot any glaring mistakes, or less obvious mistakes. Really, either works. And don't feel shy to tell me how you feel about the chapter or story in general, it would be real nice.**

**As for the possibility of Gundam appearing... I have no intention, although being Super Robot Wars it would be kind of reasonable. But I intend to stick with the Originals only, but references can and will be made if I feel like it (and already have). **

**Oh, and Weiss and Sänger sparring? Not happening. Weiss is something akin to a fencer, while Sänger uses Rishu's style, which can be glimpsed in the way the Grungusts use their swords as well as in the Shishiou blade attacks. Not compatible at all. Either Sänger would wreck her or she would be forced to use her Aura and Semblance. I hope I don't need to say what is wrong with this prospect.**

**Anyway I'm rambling, so I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

They were sitting in the mess hall, Ryusei had just been dragged off by Prof Ohmiya, since the man had wanted to show him something, possibly in an attempt to improve his mood.

The normally energetic and excitable boy had been unusually sullen ever since that mission… It annoyed the two Huntresses as well, as while they knew that you couldn't save everyone… It just wasn't the same when someone simply bombed the place and undid all their efforts, instead of them being overwhelmed, choosing to cut their losses instead of dying.

"You two don't look too happy." A feminine voice cut through the dreary atmosphere around the two teenagers. "Still hung up on what happened back then?"

They looked up to the source to find Garnet taking a seat, closely followed by Giado and finally a hesitant Latune.

"Don sweat it, it's da kind of thing that happens." The slightly imposing braided haired man said, trying to comfort them.

"We know, but…" Yang hesitantly started.

"We'll just have to move on and work harder to end this quicker." The pinkish-red-haired woman said encouragingly.

"Yeah, yeah. I'm sure if Mr Ice-Prince was here he would say-"Yang started to say, missing Blake's look behind her.

"It is the nature of the battlefield to take unpleasant losses. All those who fight can do is accept it and strive to prevent further loss. You still lack professionalism, Xiao Long." A stern voice, not completely unlike a certain blonde teacher of theirs, but masculine instead of feminine, cut the buxom blonde off.

"Not quite what I was think…ing…" Yang began saying amusedly before slowly trailing off as she realised who the voice belonged to.

"Lieutenant, did you need us for something?" Blake smoothly asked the man standing behind her partner.

"The Major wants to speak to you two. Also, Xiao Long, I would prefer you do not make unnecessary assumptions about me." Rai answered coldly before moving on, sending a glare at Yang.

"Geez, you could almost believe he was related to Weiss or something." The receiver of the glare grumbled unhappily.

"Weiß?" Latune questioned, the stoic girl apparently having heard her.

"That's not quite-"Yang started.

Only to be cut off by Blake. "A friend of ours. The personality is similar, at least on the surface."

"Oh, ah see. Still, ya'll better get going, keeping officers waiting is never a good idea." Giado said, a hint of speaking from experience showing.

They took his advice, and excused themselves.

_**-Break—**_

Weiss stood breathless by one of the viewports, looking upon the blue and green orb that was Earth.

It was a dreamlike image, one that no one on Remnant dared think they would ever see.

It was more beautiful than she expected.

If there was one thing she hadn't expected at all, it was to go beyond the atmosphere, into the vast beyond. She had gazed up at the stars a few times, but even in her wildest dreams had she thought she might one day be up there…

"It is an incredible sight, isn't it?" A kind feminine voice broke her out of her daydreaming.

She turned to look at the speaker.

She was somewhat surprised to find that it was the captain of the Hiryu, Lefina.

"Captain… I wasn't… expecting you…" She almost wanted to swear, or rather, Eis did, although Will, for somewhat understandable reasons, didn't.

The reason? Will was the one who had spoken.

The kindly young woman looked a bit confused at her words.

Eis shook their head as she assumed control.

"No, I just thought you would be on the bridge. Instead of down here." She said as calmly as possible.

'_That… was close…'_ Will imparted from within her mind.

'_What were you thinking?!'_ Eis angrily returned.

"Umm… Is something… the matter?" They were snapped out of their mental argument by their captain's uncertain query.

"N-no, everything's just fine… just… a bit distracted, is all." She tried to waive the matter.

"I see!" The red-haired young beauty said happily.

This woman… might just be a bit too trusting.

"It really doesn't matter how many times you see it, it's still amazing." Lefina spoke up again, several emotions hiding within her voice. "And yet… we still fight."

"That's just the way Humans are." Weiss said with a hint of disgust.

She had gained a number of reasons to dislike Human nature during her time at Beacon. People like Roman Torchwick, Cinder Fall and Cardin Winchester, just to name a semi-random number of less than pleasant people she had met.

Not to mention her father and much of her family…

The captain looked at her sympathetically.

"But there are also good people out there. Those who won't fight, or who only fight to end the fighting, knowing it to be hypocritical…" There was a tinge of sorrow in her voice.

Weiss smiled. People like her teammates, or that silly team JNPR. Yes, there were good people she had met as well.

She looked out at the great orb that lay there, seemingly unmoving.

She hoped they were okay…

_**-Break—**_

"You will be moved from the SRX-team."

Those were the words that were said to the two teen Huntresses by the blue-haired Major.

They gave him a blank stare.

He didn't react.

"Instead you will be assigned to the Hagane's PT squadron. Of course, the SRX-team are also being redeployed to the Hagane, so there won't be all that big of a change." The mysterious man informed them calmly.

"Wait?! What's up with that?!" Yang blurted out.

"There is simply no need for you on the team. So you are being reassigned so as to maximise efficiency. That is all." His explanation was short, blunt and to the point.

"The Hagane?" Blake decided to ask the more important question instead.

"A Space-Noah class, just like the Shirogane. It is as a matter of fact undergoing the final preparations here in this base." Ingram explained.

"Wait, I'm pretty sure I would remember seeing something that large…" Yang looked confused.

"The dry-dock it is anchored at lies underground, it's presence a secret." The stoic Major clarified.

"Oh." The blonde gave off a surprised sound.

"Thank you Major." Blake said, saluting and turning to leave.

"One last thing." He suddenly spoke up again.

They stopped.

"You should go there now. It would do you well to familiarise yourselves with the ship now."

They nodded in affirmation.

_**-Break—**_

Ruby had never been aboard a seafaring vessel before.

Which made it doubly odd for her when her first time aboard such a thing was aboard a submarine, that was to say a seafaring vessel that went **under** the water.

She was currently standing slightly off to the side, watching the two commanders, Major Elzam and Major Tempest, greeting each other like old friends.

Which they probably were, having been in the same unit and all.

They were clad in blue coats with purple decorative shoulder guards. That was to say the officers' uniforms.

She herself was clad in a skin-tight yet still comfortable pilot's suit that was coloured similarly to her normal combat dress, predominantly black with red highlights, and a half skirt open in the front, her emblem emblazoned over her heart.

She kind of liked it, although it was a bit embarrassing to wear it around people.

The biggest problem probably was that it denoted her as special. Its non-standard nature made it stand out, and she had gotten a few comments about her apparent age.

"And you must be the Rose I have heard so much about. It will be interesting to see you in action." Her introspection was interrupted by Major Hawker speaking to her.

"Thank you, Major. I will endeavour not to let your expectations down." Ruby answered seriously.

What? She could be serious too.

"Someone so talented and so favoured by both Commander Bian and Professor Shirakawa… I have no doubts you will do well." The major chuckled slightly. "I have even heard rumours saying you are actually Bian's daughter."

"Rumours that we both know are false, Tempest. Only those who have never met neither Miss Rose nor Ryune Zoldark believe them." Elzam said light-heartedly as he walked up to them. At least she thought it was light-heartedly, it was a bit difficult to tell.

"Of course Elzam, I am just having a bit of fun with our young friend here."

She resisted the urge to pout childishly, but a certain glimmer of amusement in the Majors' eyes told her she might have failed slightly.

"Still." Hawker continued. "She might just be the next you Elzam." He said and laid an arm around the other man's shoulders.

"We will see, we will see…" The longer haired man seemed less amused for some reason or another.

Ruby just chuckled nervously.

While Major Elzam von Branstein was a man of obvious virtue and great skill, and a man she felt could be trusted, especially knowing that he was one of the few members of the Divine Crusaders who truly knew and understood Bian's motivations.

But Major Tempest Hawker… He was nice, pleasant, but… There was that look in his eyes… The look of one motivated by revenge. She just couldn't bring herself to like him right now.

Maybe if they had met under other circumstances…

_**-Break—**_

"That's a big ship!" Yang exclaimed appreciatively.

"It's exactly the same size as the Shirogane." Blake said, her eyes even so revealing a certain inkling of awe.

"So this is the ship I will be on!" A sweet feminine voice filled with wonder reached them.

Curiously looking over they saw a young girl with well-kept middle-length blue hair and bright-blue eyes. She was wearing a uniform that Yang couldn't quite place, but there was one thing the buxom blonde knew for certain…

That girl's chest could match hers!

Not that she cared... at all.

"A nurse?" Blake decided to identify the uniform instead. "I haven't seen her before… Is she new?"

The girl then looked down and shifted her gaze towards them. Perhaps she had sensed them observing her, or heard them talking.

"Ah! You are!" When she saw Yang she gained a look of recognition and walked over.

"Uh… Do I know you?" Was what the fiery dragoness said in response to this development.

"Oh, right, you wouldn't know… My name is Kusuha Mizuha, and I found you lying unconscious on the street some time ago." The girl said abashedly, bowing in greeting.

"Oh." Yang imitated the letter o for some time. "Nice to meet you Kusuha! And thank you for taking care of me that time!" The excitable gal said happily and slung an arm across the other's shoulders.

"Hey! You people! What are you doing here?!" A new voice interrupted Yang's teasing.

They looked at the source, a girl with brown hair tied into a bun at the back and two locks held in place with hair-clips down either side of her face as well as two long braids out of the bun, with brown eyes.

She was wearing a red and khaki uniform with silvery-grey trim and gloves that, judging by the other people they had seen wearing it, belonged to the crew of the Hagane.

"Ah, I'm supposed to work here as a ship-nurse." Kusuha said, digging into her bag and producing the identification papers that proved it.

"And what about you two? You don't look like nurses… Oh, you're pilots. Sorry." The newcomer rounded on the other two people present, but it seemed she finally realised that they wore pilot's uniforms.

More specifically, uniforms that would indicate that they were part of the teams being transferred to the ship.

It probably helped a lot that Blake had whipped out her ID-card.

The brunette laughed nervously. "I'm Rio Mei Long, a bridge operator aboard the Hagane. Maybe I could… show you around the ship…?"

"That would be really nice, Rio. We haven't had any opportunity to get to know it yet, so a guide would be most helpful." Blake answered politely.

Yang and Kusuha nodded approvingly.

* * *

**Author's notes: Well, things happened! Hopefully people can figure out what is about to happen as well. If there are any mistakes feel free to tell me, and if there's anything you don't quite get, do feel free to ask about it.**

**I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

It had been a nice tour, Rio proving to have an excellent memory, while Kusuha proved a pleasant companion. They had also encountered Ryusei wandering the ship, and found that Ryusei and Kusuha were childhood-friends, and that the blue-haired maiden didn't know that Ryusei was there, nor did the mecha-fanboy know that she was coming.

Still, the ship was huge, and Yang was fully expecting to get lost at least a few times trying to get somewhere.

It was at least decked out with all the things a pilot could want, a big mess-hall, a gym for physical exercise and a sickbay as well as rooms for everyone.

And that wasn't even talking about the hangar bays, which looked like they could store at least 20 PTs, and probably even larger things if necessary.

Unfortunately, their time was cut short as alarms sounded, and all crew were called to combat stations as the PT squadrons were scrambled.

They were under attack by the DC, and were going to launch the Hagane even though they hadn't finished loading all the supplies.

So Yang and Blake found themselves in their Gespensts, the SRX-team, minus Ryusei for some reason off towards the pier and Latune's squad off towards the road leading in, while two new PTs also joined the fray.

One was the Wildschwein, a unit reminiscent of the Gespenst, although bulkier and more armoured, with a large disk on the left arm, wing like attachments on the back and a different shape on the head. It lacked the V-visor of the Gespenst, instead showing the eyes directly, and instead of the two fins coming off the side of the head it had a V-shaped pair of antennae on the forehead and a pair of thicker fins more to the back.

The other was sleeker and more humanoid than the Gespenst, and according to the talk around base as it was hauled in, it was the Vanishing Trooper, the Hückebein. Obviously Yang didn't want to listen to baseless rumour, so she checked with Rob, who said that it was the Hückebein 009, which lacked the component that gave the original its name.

Its head was similar to the Wildschwein, but the fins were smaller, sharper, and it also had wing-like attachments on the back, four of them, two upward and two downward. It was slightly taller in appearance, not at all stocky like the Gespenst. Didn't look nearly as armoured either.

The Wildschwein, painted sky-blue, was piloted by Major Ingram himself, while the 009, painted a greenish-teal, was piloted by a certain Lieutenant Irmgard Kazahara, who had expressed familiarity with Blake, who explained that she had met him when she first arrived.

He had also flirted with both of them, which somewhat unsettled them, although he seemed to be kidding for the most part. At least they hoped he was kidding.

"Focus on guarding the end of the pier, the Hagane will be launching from there, and if it isn't clear she might get sunk immediately." Ingram's cool voice commanded. "Myself and Irm will move to intercept, Rai, Aya, defend the exit point. The rest of you, defend the base proper."

They tensed slightly as the first wave of Lions reached them. In the back they could just barely glimpse two new models hanging around, although it seemed they were waiting for something, and Yang assumed they might move in at any moment.

Ingram and Irm took out a large portion of the incoming enemies, their statuses as veterans showing clearly as they nimbly evaded enemy fire while returning with unerring accuracy.

Rai was holding the end of the pier, laying down accurate cannon fire on anything that tried to approach while Aya provided support.

In the air Latune, Giado and Garnet did their absolute best to stop any one from getting closer, while Yang and Blake were left with those who managed to slip through.

"Ha! Come on you flying tin cans! Is that all you got!" Yang shouted excitedly.

It was extremely sudden. One moment the two new DC units hung back, the next they were passing by the entirety of the battle like there was no one in the way.

One headed straight for Rai, while the other headed for Blake and Yang.

Rai tried to snipe the advancing black blur, but his shots were avoided with contemptuous ease, all the while the return fire glanced his armour.

They could hear Rai speaking over the radio.

"A black machine… and that emblem. Is that you! Elzam!" He shouted.

To the girls' surprise, he got a reply.

"Raidiese, my dear younger brother, do you intend to go against our father?" The replying voice was cool and calm, yet clear and strong.

"I cast off that name long ago! I refuse to follow that man's wishes!" Even as Rai shouted back, he fired another salvo, but missed once again.

Now, it would be understandable if someone accused Rai of missing on purpose, but they could see that it was not so. He was really trying to shoot his brother, but the difference in skill was crazy, especially since Rai was considered a genius ace.

It made both Yang and Blake pale in consideration of how good Elzam was…

Then Yang remembered the other new unit, charging straight at them, and for a short moment she considered what it would be like to have to fight Ruby…

Then she got a closer look on the approaching machine, and suddenly she paled further.

That colouring, that rose emblem… They were **hers**. Ingram managed to get in the way, prompting the machine to reach behind the small of its back… for a familiar looking red box…

Pulling it out, it promptly unfolded into a large red scythe almost as big as the machine itself.

It was an exact replica of Crescent Rose, Yang could tell, having seen the weapon several times before.

The scythe was swung with lightning speed, but was blocked as the disk on the Wildschwein's left arm sprung into life, projecting a disk of energy around it.

But the scythe was spun expertly, coming in again at another angle, forcing another block. But suddenly a round was fired from the top of the weapon, the recoil causing the entire machine to spin around, the razor sharp edge expertly cutting into the Wildschwein, and if the Major hadn't managed to dodge in time would have split it in half.

As it was it only cut off the right arm.

There was only one person who could use that weapon like that… well, two. But only one of them had a rose emblem…

Her younger sister, Ruby Rose.

Before Yang could say anything though, Blake had already spoken up.

"Ruby…?" The Faunus girl's voice was hesitant, giving the impression of praying it wasn't true.

The new machine kicked the Wildschwein away, and turned to look at them.

All they got was a short message.

"I'm sorry."

Then the Sniper-Scythe combination switched into gun mode, and hadn't Yang leapt away, her Gespenst would have been completely incapacitated.

The same couldn't be said for Blake, who took a hit to both the left arm and the right leg, shattering both limbs.

Then, as if on an unheard signal, the siblings to two different people withdrew back to the rear, leaving a number of bewildered people behind, as well as quite a bit of damage to their members.

_**-Break—**_

Ruby felt a little bit bad. They weren't really supposed to participate in this battle, but when Elzam had charged forth like that, saying something or another about Raidiese, she had also charged off, towards those familiarly coloured Gespensts.

Now she kind of wished she hadn't, as those were most certainly Yang and Blake…

But Ruby had decided, she would assist Bian in achieving his goal. Then she could allow herself to be reunited with her team-mates.

She had known from the very beginning that she might encounter them on the opposing side, especially since they weren't amongst the DC.

But she couldn't blame them for siding with the EFA. They didn't know what she did, hadn't met Bian… Besides, if everything went well then it would be a moot point. She hoped.

She shook herself out of her stupor.

"Someone you know?" Came Elzam's voice through a private communication.

"Yeah, my older sister and a good friend of mine." She said softly.

She heard a hum of confirmation. "It is though, to face the prospect of harming one's loved ones." His voice was melancholic, like he was remembering something. "Still, it's about time…"

Ruby wondered slightly what he could have meant, then she remembered the Hagane.

Even as she recalled that detail, the waters ahead of the pier burst, revealing a massive ship-bow, followed by the even larger ship itself surfacing and taking to the air.

It was a breath-taking sight. Then it opened fire, tearing into the Lions around it.

"What do we do?" She asked her commander.

The long-haired man contemplated for a few moments. Then he looked up at the imposing vessel.

"We try to cripple it." Was all he said, before dashing off towards it.

Ruby instead took aim with her Crescent Rose, sniping at whatever weak points she could find, damaging the ships masts and radar systems, while Elzam agilely circled the ship, damaging the main cannons.

But even so they couldn't stop the ship, and its escorts were fast approaching.

"Elzam, Rose! Get out of there. I'll launch a cruise missile at the Hagane." Suddenly Tempest cut in.

"Are you trying to destroy the Hagane?" Elzam asked angrily.

"If we can't secure it, we must destroy it." The other Major answered.

Elzam clicked his tongue and turned around.

"Come on Rose. We're leaving."

Ruby followed, praying as hard as she could that her sister and Blake would make it out of there.

_**-Break—**_

They watched tiredly as the DC forces withdrew. That had been… unpleasant.

To think that Ruby would be with the DC…

Was Weiss with her?

She couldn't know.

The raven-haired girl shook her head.

"Cruise missile approaching!" Came a shout over the radio.

"Damn it! They'd rather destroy the Hagane than let us use her, is that it?!" Rai said angrily.

Blake could only helplessly listen as methods of taking care of the missile were debated, until finally Rob entered the conversation and suggested they use the R-1, one of the machines being developed by the SRX-project.

Somehow they actually decided to try it, and they could only watch with bated breaths as the PT was lifted up from its hangar unto the pier in kneeling position, a large rifle in hand.

Her breath caught as it refused to start, with the missile drawing nearer…

Then suddenly, as if by some crazy miracle, the R-1 started, lifting its rifle. But even so it was a nigh impossible shot, and the missile got any closer they wouldn't make it.

And yet. And yet, the shot hit. Somehow the otherwise not brilliant shot Ryusei managed to hit a small target travelling at high speed, detonating it away from the Hagane, which emerged unscathed.

A collective sigh of relief was heaved, especially by Rob, whose work had finally shown itself functional.

And so they set off aboard the Hagane.

And then they were told their goal was the DC headquarters on Aidoneus Island…

Blake blanched, while Yang grinned widely at the thought of such a crazy challenge.

Why couldn't things have been simple?

* * *

**Author's notes: I agree Blake, this is kind of difficult actually... Gotta hand it to Banpresto's story writers, who manage to give the games an excellent story. But anyway, feel free to tell me what you thought about the chapter, and to point out mistakes or give suggestions, I am after all trying to improve my writing.**

**Oh, and I'll be away the coming week, so I won't be writing.**

**I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

The news they had picked up recently were disheartening to say the least. The EFA were losing ground, both in space and on the surface.

There was a certain sense of tension aboard the Hiryu, born from the knowledge that they could be attacked at any moment. Although their fellow pilots managed quite well to stay in good spirits, the ATX-team keeping up their usual routine with Excellen teasing someone, usually either her or Ensign Luckfield, and Lieutenant Nanbu simply ignoring it.

Weiss still couldn't decide whatever he was dense or just messing with them in his own way, because she was fairly certain that Excellen fancied him, even if she teased everyone, regardless of gender. There were just these… signs, she supposed.

It didn't help that matter that the Lieutenant's poker face was impeccable. It was nearly impossible to tell his mood at any time. Except for when he was unleashing a veritable hail of bearing rounds or driving a large pile-driver through his enemies… Then he revealed the heated personality underneath.

She had yet to see him angry or sad though. She hadn't even seen him happy, except for maybe some small smirks every now and then.

As she was musing she heard footsteps approach, and turning to the source of them she saw a tall woman with dark skin, light-green eyes and long hair a darker shade of green held up in what appeared to be a long line of cloth wrapped around her head held together with a ribbon on the left side.

She was also wearing an orange blouse, with a light-blue shirt underneath, a light-purplish sash was wrapped around her waist, and she wore purple baggy pants of a fine material so thin it basically see-through. On her feet were a pair of dark-blue slippers and she had several bracelets around her wrists.

"Weiss. How are you?" The dark-skinned woman asked in greeting.

"Radha. I'm fine. How about you? How are you holding up aboard a warship during a war? You are after all a civilian." She responded politely.

"Oh, do not worry about me. My yoga will see me through. Actually, you seem a little tense, how about you join me for some yoga? I'm sure it would help you." The exotic woman asked with a smile.

Weiss shivered involuntarily. She had been roped into doing yoga with Radha once… and she wouldn't do it again. That woman was crazy when it came to her yoga.

"Thanks, but I'll be fine. Besides, I need to go, I want to do some quick checks on my Gespenst." She did her level best to remain polite and calm as she excused herself.

'_That… was… close…'_

'_You don't need to tell me that Will. I know that already.'_

She didn't feel bad though, because the excuse **was **legitimate. She did want to do some checks on her Gespenst, to make sure it wouldn't break down during combat.

Suddenly alarms started blaring, and over the PA system a voice told all personnel to assume battle stations and for the PT squadrons and Fighters to launch.

She set off in a dash, and quickly reached the hangar where her unit was stored. She could see Radha come running as well, but was stopped by Tasuku, who seemed to have something he wanted to talk about.

Weiss ignored them, hurriedly ascending to the cockpit, jumping in and starting the start-up sequence immediately.

'_All systems… check. She's good to go.'_ Will provided as she took over.

"All right everyone! Are you ready?!" Shouted Lieutenant Tarask over the radio.

"Y-yes, Lieutenant!" Responded Russel.

It still amazed the heiress that the mild-mannered Russel put up with the Lieutenant. You would have thought they would have a falling out or something eventually.

"Of course." Came Lieutenant Nanbu's cool affirmation.

"Righty'o we are!" Exclaimed Excellen excitedly.

"Ensign Luckfield, ready!"

"Ready… Lieutenant." Will finally answered.

They launched in rapid succession, Will realising once they were out that Octo squad (that was seriously the name of Lieutenant Tarask's squad) had launched ahead, again. This time they were using the Rangzen, a special Fighter craft built specifically for space use, seeing as their Messers would be worthless out there.

"Geez, what took you so long?!" The hot-headed squad-leader shouted again.

Weiss was really glad that she wasn't under that woman's command.

"Incoming! Enemy Armoured Modules!" A bridge operator informed.

Immediately data was sent to her machine, and she quickly identified the approaching machines, a group of special Lions, moving faster than the standard, and painted in the colours of the United Colony Corps.

"Okay! Here's some presents for you!" Quipped Excellen as she fired upon them, sniping one.

"Let's go." The temporary leader of the ATX team, Lieutenant Nanbu said as he suddenly sped off, using his machine's prodigious acceleration and top speed to charge into the enemy formation.

Will and Ensign Luckfield did their best to keep up, following the charge as Excellen kept laying down long-range sniper fire.

"Providing support!" The young pilot exclaimed as he readied his machine gun.

"Likewise…" She said, doing the same.

They took aim at the enemies trying to get behind the Lieutenant, making sure to keep the breach he had caused open.

Soon they were in the middle of it as well, and they both weaved through railgun fire, evading or shooting down missiles.

"Go! T-Link Ripper!" From her counterpart's Gespenst's back two rippers were launched, zooming off, guided by some system to cut through a Lion.

"Plasma Stakes… set." She said as she activated the device attached to the left arm. "Please get out of the way! Jet Magnum!" Her shyer self then shouted as she rammed it into an unsuspecting Lion that had misjudged her approach, punching right through its armour.

"New contact! Armoured Module!" The bridge informed then. "It's really fast!"

True to the information, a new enemy had entered the area, one of the new units, the Guarlion. And it was moving far quicker than the Lions.

"Fast! And that colouring… could it be, Elzam?!" Lieutenant Nanbu analysed as he moved to intercept.

"No… different…" Will said shyly.

It was different from the one Elzam had piloted when they met him. The colouring was similar, but not the same, and there were differences in the design…

It was then she caught the Rose emblem, just as it met the Alteisen.

She expected it to draw a sword or activate the Break Field. Instead it took out a box from its back… and unfurled it into a crimson scythe.

Weiss' mind blanked out as she watched the Guarlion charge, expertly avoiding the Alteisen's stake, spinning the scythe in an attempt to lop the arm off.

The brown-haired gambler simply accelerated, forcing his opponent to get out of the way as the red machine's horn was energized.

The two machines sped past each other, the Alteisen forced to engage another Lion while the Guarlion came under fire from the Weißritter.

It used a burst of speed to evade the shots, then turned the head of its scythe towards the attacker… and fired the built in sniper-rifle.

There was no doubt about it…

'_That's!'_ Eis exclaimed concernedly.

'_Ruby…'_ Will filled in for her (herself?).

There were no other possibility. Weiss couldn't name any other person who wielded such a weapon. Especially with such skill.

Not to mention that emblem…

Yeah, no. She was quickly running out of ways to explain it away.

But if she wanted to make certain, she would have to contact the pilot.

Who was currently zooming around, running circles around Ensign Luckfield's Gespenst, all the while evading Excellen's attempts to snipe her.

Something bugged Weiss though. With that kind of speed, it should have been easy for her to reach the Hiryu before they could redeploy to mount a sufficient defence…

Her eyes widened as she turned towards the Hiryu.

"New contact!" Shouted the bridge operator (Yun she thinks?). "It's… the Grungust Type-0!"

"What?!"

Suddenly the behemoth of a machine had appeared behind the Hiryu, way away from the battle.

"Major…!"

"Humph! BOOST KNUCKLE!" Shouted the man loudly, as the massive machine's fist was launched… right at the Hiryu.

"Boss! What are you doing!?" Excellen exclaimed.

"As you can see, I have joined the DC. And now I shall sink the Hiryu!" Was the only reply as the Grungust readied its massive blade.

"Damn! We have to stop him!" Lieutenant Nanbu shouted as he started moving towards the Hiryu, but he was intercepted by the Guarlion. "Get out of the way!"

"Afraid I can't do that." A young and familiar girl's voice responded.

The fist was readied again, this time breaking the Energy Field, and leaving the Hiryu vulnerable.

"This is the end!" The fist was readied again.

"No!"

But this time its flight was stopped... by a massive wall of steel, and a defensive field.

"Wha?" Weiss could only stare dumfounded at the massive behemoth that had shielded the Hiryu.

It was massive, easily 70 metres tall… on its arms two massive shields were mounted, and it was painted in red and white, with some gold thrown in as well. Its head was wedge shaped, and it had a golden wedge jutting out of its chest.

Then it registered with her.

The Giganscudo. She had caught glimpses of it aboard the Hiryu, but for some reason she had never really considered its presence.

She had even so researched it a bit though. The name meant Giant Shield, and it was a massive thing meant for defence more than anything else.

The largest humanoid mobile weapon created by mankind, it dwarfed even the Grungust. But it was supposed to have been scrapped after the Hope incident…

And now that she thought about it, wasn't it supposed to be a two-seater?

Huh.

Then who…?

"I won't let you damage the Hiryu any further!" Shouted the somewhat familiar voice of Tasuku.

But wasn't he an engineer?

'_He did say… that if he hadn't… failed the physical exam… he would have… become a pilot…'_ Will reminded her other self.

'_Oh. Right.'_ Eis chuckled nervously from her corner of their mind.

"Interesting! Let's see which wins out, your strongest shield or my strongest sword!" Major Sänger called the challenge.

"Ha! Bring it on!" And the engineer took it up.

The colossal blade was readied, the two shields crossed, as the two behemoths stared each other down.

Then the boosters on the black coloured machine flared, causing it to rapidly close the distance. As the blade was swung overhead, the boosters attached to it flared, causing it to crash down with god-speed.

"ZanKanTou! ItTou RyouDan!" (Ship Cleaving Sword! Cutting in two with a single stroke!) The German Samurai shouted. "CHESTOOO!"

The sword met the field protecting the shield… and shattered it.

Then it met the armour, and although it was slowed down, the armour was still broken.

The ultimate shield had lost…

"Magnificent. To think that my ZanKanTou would break…" The proud warrior said, clearly impressed.

At first Weiss couldn't understand what he was saying. Then she saw it… cracks in the colossal blade.

"Very well. I will withdraw for now."

Then he turned and left, just like that.

And with him, so did the remaining UCC forces.

Weiss finally regained her wits, and practically screamed out: "Ruby!"

The black and red Guarlion stopped and turned to look at her.

"Weiss? I'm sorry." Was all her leader and partner said before she disappeared.

And all they could do was stare at her retreating form…

* * *

**Author's notes: And I'm back! How did you guys like it? I decided to devote this chapter to the Hiryu and Weiss (Will and Eis) since the previous chapter had been all about the Hagane and Blake and Yang. But yeah, don't hesitate to point out any mistakes I make or to give suggestions, feedback is always welcome. And if you are confused you can always send me a PM. I think that's better than asking me questions in a review. Unless you also give feedback.**

**I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

Blake and Yang sat in the Hagane's mess hall, their expressions dark as they tried to understand the events that had transpired.

They had found Ruby. At least that was what it had to bee, yet… would really their leader side with the Divine Crusaders?

It was hard for them to believe, more so for Yang, who, as the older sister, could never imagine her baby sister as anything other than sweet and innocent.

"Was it someone you knew?" Kusuha asked with concern as she took a seat beside them.

She had seen the battle, or at least snippets of it, and while she hadn't heard the com-chatter, she had seen the odd encounter between the black and red Guarlion with the rose emblem and the duo.

"Yeah… My sister. At least, it had to be." Yang responded sullenly. "There is no other explanation, no matter how I twist and turn the matter."

"To me she is a valued friend. We have been through a lot together, and the prospect of facing her is…" Blake added, biting her lower lip.

"I see. It must be tough. I can't even begin to understand." The blue-haired nurse shook her head sorrowfully.

"I can't really understand it myself." The blonde gal sighed loudly. "Still, I'm sure she has her reasons, and I am certain we will be reunited in the end." She tried to cheer up with false bravado, but it was still clear to the sensitive Kusuha that she was still pained.

And yet, there was nothing she could do right now. She could help with physical wounds or fatigue, but unless the two Huntresses wanted help there was nothing she could do about their mental states.

Unfortunately, their discussion came to an abrupt end as claxons rang, and a voice over the PA relayed an order to enter battle stations. Through the window they could see one of the Messers they had on-board fly off, while the ship changed course to follow.

The two warrior teens would be lying if they said that it was an unwelcome distraction…

_**-Break—**_

They arrived to the battle just in time to witness the cargo hatch of the transport-craft opening, revealing its contents…

That promptly exited, revealing its true form, that of a massive blue humanoid, complete with a face mimicking that of a humans.

Yang couldn't help but stare at it. She had seen a lot of things, but this… this might be the silliest she had seen yet.

Someone had decided that building an over 40 metre tall human looking machine of war was a good idea.

Then it moved, revealing that it was indeed quite capable, its fist suddenly being propelled from its arm together with a shout of 'Boost Knuckle' from the pilot, who turned out to be Irm, roaring off with great speed, tearing straight through an unlucky Lion before returning, the return fire from the flying machines barely serving to even scratch the paint-job.

"Seriously?" Was all she managed to say.

A hum in confirmation from the petite Latune was her only response.

As she looked around she realised that neither Blake nor Ryusei had launched yet.

"Wait, where's Blake and Ryusei?" She asked out loud over the com.

Someone had to know.

"They're being delayed. Worst case we'll just have to do without them." Came the cool response from Major Ingram.

"Delayed? Why?" The busty blonde squeezed out as she weaselled her way through Railgun fire.

No response came, although none was needed as two machines launched from the Hagane, accompanied by said missing people's apologies.

One was familiar since before, the Hückebein 009, and the way it moved suggested to Yang that Blake was in it.

The other she had never seen before. A white humanoid, not far from the Hückebein really in terms of human shape, with long ear like fins.

She didn't know it at all. Blake might have known, since she had taken to looking into that kind of things, but Yang didn't really care so she hadn't bothered…

She assumed Ryusei was piloting it.

The distracted blonde was removed from her musings violently by a blaring alarm telling her that something was getting really close from behind, and she could barely look behind her to see the Lion speeding towards her with some kind of sword that seemed to have a chainsaw blade attached to it.

A chainsword?

Really, this wasn't the time-!

"Final Beam!" A loud shout resounded over the com.

In response to this a beam of pure energy engulfed the Lion, burning it to cinders.

Yang could only stare wide eyed as her eyes traced the source.

Of course it was that new machine Irm was piloting. Only that thing seemed to be silly enough to-

Her eyes widened as the massive machine propelled itself upward, the limbs suddenly switching positions and even changing shape, and before long it had turned into a simply ridiculously large jet, taking to the skies.

She shook her head as she tried to return her attention to the battle, just in time to realise another Lion was closing in on her.

"Not this time! Plasma Stake! Set!" She shouted as she activated the arm-mounted armament. "Jet! Magnum!"

She didn't know why she decided to shout like that, but for some reason or another it felt like the right thing to do.

So she did.

It actually felt really satisfying punching someone with an energized fist while shouting.

Maybe that was why Irm was shouting like crazy all the time? Or maybe it just had to do with the machine he was piloting in general, because she was pretty sure he wasn't that prone to shouting things before…

_**-Break—**_

The first thing Blake noted about the Hückebein 009 compared to her previous Gespenst Mk-II was that the 009 was far superior in terms of mobility and agility.

It was much easier for her to dodge, and the new machine was actually capable of allowing more of her normal fighting-style bleed through.

Not by much of course, this thing can't produce shadow clones or perform acrobatic manoeuvres. But it was still far easier for her to spin, dodge and slash, the sword like energy weapon it came equipped with slicing through the Lions with ease, all the while the Boosted Rifle proved a powerful long-range weapon.

And the Remote Slasher… that thing was quite the weapon. She wasn't too good with it, but even then she could make it slice through several Lions at once without trouble, thanks in no small part due to its remote controlled nature.

But the built in head-mounted guns were… less than impressive, almost only good for annoying even the lightly armoured Lions.

Sure, she was certain that with precise enough aim it could easily take one out, but she preferred the more certain and powerful weapons.

She watched as Lieutenant Irm's new machine (she really needed to look that thing up, it was incredible) tore through the skies in the form of a giant jet, spinning around and creating an energy field of some kind before ramming an unsuspecting Guarlion with a shout of 'Spiral Attack!'

It was amusing, although she questioned why he was doing that.

She looked at her weapon options, but none of them spoke to her to shout out their names proudly.

Maybe that was why the Lieutenant didn't shout anything while piloting it? She mused as she nimbly dodged a series of shots from a Guarlion's railgun weapon and took aim with the Boosted Rifle.

The three shot burst tore into the target, ripping apart the head and upper torso, causing the machine to explode for some inexplicable reason.

The raven-haired cat-girl startled slightly as Yang's Gespenst boosted behind her, ramming a sparkling fist into a Lion.

"Woo!" The excitable girl shouted.

"Thanks Yang. You saved me the effort of having to dodge." Blake said bemusedly.

Yang simply gave a thumbs up.

An energy beam passed straight between them, vaporising the torso of a Lion and the left arm and leg of another.

"Don't lower your guard! The battle is not over yet!" The annoyed voice of Rai came over the com.

"Actually Rai, it kind of is." Ryusei retorted, his Wildraptor lazily waltzing up beside the cold sniper.

The face that the man made was exquisite, and the youths watching silently were glad that there was a video feed function, as it was what had allowed them to see the utter astonishment and embarrassment on his face.

True to the machine enthusiast's word, the fighting had stopped, and there were no DC forces remaining in the area.

"Thanks for the save Hagane!" A voice came over the general com, originating from the Tausendfüßler they had helped. "Any later and they would have taken the Grungust."

The face that appeared looked suspiciously much like Irm's, albeit older. Same hair colour, same face.

"No problem Dr Kazahara. We are glad to have been of assistance." The grizzled voice of Captain Daitetsu answered.

Captain Daitetsu Minase was a bulky, elderly man, with a thick grey beard covering his chin and grey hair poking out underneath his captain's hat. What little interaction Blake had had with the man gave her the impression that he was a kind, if a bit stern man.

Still, Kazahara? Was he perhaps Irm's father then?

She couldn't deny the possibility.

And the Grungust? She hadn't seen anything about a machine with that name in the records… Maybe it was simply not categorized with the rest?

It was after all more than twice the height of the Personal Troopers…

"All PTs, return to ship, we will immediately resume our mission to attack Aidoneus Island, with our current target being a nearby Island base for resupply." An operator relayed, prompting everyone to start moving towards the Hagane.

As they were moving Yang opened a private communication between their units.

"So, why are you using the Hucke-whatever?" The fiery gal asked.

"My Gespenst was still in the middle of repairs, so it was decided I would use the Hückebein for this sortie." The Faunus girl responded. "I hope they let me keep it…"

"Maybe if you ask nicely?" The blonde suggested.

Blake simply shrugged.

It was always worth a try she supposed…

_**-Break—**_

"So Snow White? Who was that pilot? It seemed like you knew her?" Excellen asked, a glimmer of seriousness causing the eccentric woman's gaze to become a little bit scary.

Will whimpered slightly under the gaze, but Eis didn't let herself budge, and she was in control.

"Excellen, I hardly think-"Ensign Luckfield tried to stop his teammate.

Eis simply shook her head and stopped him, cutting him off.

"It's fine. She's a friend of mine, but we were separated with no means to reach each other a while ago and…" The white-haired heiress hesitated slightly. "And now it seems she has joined the UCC or DC."

"A friend? Are you close?" Lieutenant Nanbu queried with his face an unreadable mask. As always. Yet she could detect a hint of concern.

"Yes." She responded with a wry smile adorning her features.

As loath as she was to admit it, she considered Ruby to be a close friend, although chances are she would never let said person hear about it.

Her pride wouldn't let that become known.

"Oh? Might our Ice Princess perhaps be a Tsundere?" The orange-haired madwoman giggled slightly.

"What's that even supposed to mean?" Eis huffed angrily.

Excellen simply giggled. "You see-"She started, but was cut off by the Lieutenant.

"It's an expression from Japanese popular culture indicating a person who is unfriendly on the outside but loving on the inside. I think." The stoic man explained with a straight face, and everyone present almost face-faulted when he added that last part.

"Geez Kyousuke, way to ruin my fun, and with an uncertain explanation to boot." The cheerful sniper pouted unhappily. "Still, I suppose it's an adequate explanation even so. Who'd have thought you would know something like that?" Her smile returned full force.

That sounded… almost correct. Tsundere, eh?

Maybe she could be classified as one…

* * *

**Author's notes: Well, that was... This is what happens when there are no reviews (or too few, as in this case). Chapters get delayed because I can't find any motivation to write. Anyway, tell me you opinion on this chapter, and the story in general, and feel free to point out any faults in either the story or my writing, constructive criticism is not only welcome, but also very useful. Of course, direct questions or suggestions should probably be given in the form of PMs, instead of reviews, at least if that is all you want to give.  
**

**I would also like to point out The Hotblooded Author, a fellow author on this site who has a story that is a crossover between Super Robot Wars and Infinite Stratos, filled with crazy antics and references. He is in desperate need of readers and reviews, or he might stop writing entirely. And I feel that would be sad. So do check him out, you should be able to find his profile amongst the reviews if nothing else.**

**I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

Ruby stood in a corridor aboard a carrier belonging to the UCC, gazing out through a window. Space was… different.

It was vast… and empty.

She had sometimes looked up at the stars back in Remnant and wondered what was up there.

Now she knew. It was a vast expanse, empty of more or less anything, the stars far too distant for anyone to actually go there.

As she gazed at the distant specks of light she wondered idly if one of them might house Remnant…

She had no way of actually knowing. It seemed to her extremely unlikely, if the theories of this world proved correct.

Unbidden came the thought: Should I be doing this? Shouldn't I be doing my utmost to find a way back home, alongside my team?

She shook her head. She had decided. This world, the blue orb known as Earth that she could see if she only looked more to her right…

It was being threatened by beings from beyond. From some distant star. And it needed to be prepared, or it would suffer.

Was the cause of the DC just? Perhaps not. There might have been other ways, but could they be sure it would work?

No matter who won the violent struggle they would be better prepared…

Part of Ruby hoped it was the EFA… But part of her hoped it was the DC, for she knew that Bian would give his life for this cause, that if the DC lost he would probably die.

No, those had been his instructions in the first place, that should he perish the DC would stand down.

Ruby could only pray that they would, for the DC was filled with people whose intentions where impure…

Like Adler.

The man was a snake. A convening, immoral dastard.

She sighed. She had already seen what might become of even the most well-intentioned organization.

Yes, they were no different from the White Fang.

Ruby would have to apologize to her team later, especially Blake.

A wry smile crept up on her face.

Who would have thought that she would join an insurrection? Especially after her experiences with the White Fang.

'_Dad probably won't approve of this…'_

This simple stray thought caused her to think of home, of the people she had left behind.

Her father, JNPR, Penny…

Were they worried?

Probably.

Unless of course time didn't flow the same here as there…

No point in thinking about that. Better just assume that the same amount of time would have passed back home as over here.

"Ah, there you are Miss Rose. Captain Hainkel would like to speak with you…" A female voice broke her out of her spiralling thoughts. "Is this… a bad time?"

Ruby shook her head and gave a small smile as she turned to the newcomer.

She was a relatively tall woman, with shoulder-length flowing golden blonde hair and piercing sharp blue eyes. Her features were sharp, almost aristocratic, and Ruby heard she was actually Elzam's cousin. Ruby could definitively see the resemblance.

Her name was Leona Garstein, a member of the vaunted royal guard of the UCC, the Treue squad, an all-female unit consisting of only the best.

And Ruby had been assigned to accompany them a bit, perhaps on the recommendation of Bian, perhaps Elzam, she couldn't know for sure.

As for the reason she had engaged the Hiryu…

Well, she had been accompanying Major Sänger.

"No, I was just reminiscing a bit, don't worry Leona." The red-headed girl said cheerfully.

She kind of like Leona. She might be a bit stiff and stern, but she was still a good person. She somewhat reminded her of Glynda, if a bit nicer.

"I see…" The blonde seemed unconvinced. "Well, if you'll follow me I'll guide you to the captain."

The older pilot turned around and set off.

The temporary cheer fell off the young girl's face, and she heaved a soft sigh as she started after Leona.

_**-Break—**_

The leader of the Treue squad, Captain Julia Hainkel was a tall, stern woman with short blonde hair and lime coloured eyes.

"Ah, Rose. You're here. We are planning to take a short round trip around the L2 sector before proceeding down to Earth for a short rendezvous with the DC." The female commander said curtly. "We hope you won't mind?" The taller woman raised an eyebrow questioningly.

"That's fine. I was instructed to accompany the Treue squad, and I'll do so." Ruby answered with a smile.

She could feel a few sharp gazes from the various corners of the hangar, and she suspected it was some of the less… accepting members of the squadron.

They were an elite unit. A young upstart like Ruby with her own fancy custom machine had no place there, that was what she suspected they thought.

Well, as long as they didn't come to blows about it Ruby would be able to endure.

It was a bit like her first meeting with Weiss again. The frosty heiress had also questioned her age and qualification.

A blaring alarm took her out of her thoughts.

Maybe if she stopped musing so much she wouldn't get interrupted so often?

She shook her head and looked to Julia.

The squad-leader didn't look like she knew anything either.

That could only mean…

"Unknowns in range 4! They are closing on the ship!" A shout over the PA system confirmed Ruby's thought, someone, or something, had surprised them.

"All AMs! Launch!" Julia shouted in response to the announcement.

Ruby nodded and hurried to her own machine, the Guarlion Rose.

Don't look at her like that, it wasn't her idea…

She pulled on the helmet even as she leapt into the cockpit.

She started up the powerful instrument of war even as she heard the others start launching.

As the screens flickered to life and showed her the hangar, only she and Julia remained, Leona just having launched.

The Captain's Cosmolion gave a short nod as it shot out of the bay.

Ruby sighed slightly as she took up position.

Her machine was positioned the furthest away, and she didn't exactly want to use her semblance to go faster…

Actually, did it even work here? She couldn't remember if she had tried or not.

"Ruby Rose, Guarlion Rose! Launching!"

Her machine sped off as the catapult assisted its departure.

As she exited she quickly took in her surroundings.

The battle hadn't started yet, and the Treue squad were spreading out between the ship and the incoming unknowns.

Ruby focused her sensors at them. They were small… at least compared to the Lions… and shaped like…

Shaped like bugs.

They reminded her of the things that had captured her team, but as she took another look she realised they were different. Similar, but different. These were the machines that had been launched by that… ship in Antarctica.

"Captain Hainkel, what are your instructions?" She cautiously asked.

"Hold. Let them get closer. We have to be sure-"The skilled woman was interrupted by a blast of ring-shaped energy headed her way. "Okay. That's close enough. You have permission to engage! Protect the Hintern!"

Ruby immediately took aim with the up-scaled version of Crescent Rose, in its sniper mode, letting fly several high-power shots that tore through two of the bugs.

The things were more agile than you might think, Ruby noted sourly.

Ahead of her the Treue squad sped into combat, the hardened elites showing their skill as they tore through the attackers.

Ruby sped off, evading a burst of energy as she approached one of the bug-shaped machines, switching her darling into scythe mode.

Before it could react properly she had spun around, cutting it neatly in two, then using the momentum to cut into another, destroying the head.

"Detecting an anomaly at range three! This is…!" An operator aboard the ship informed. "More unknowns! But… they're not headed for…" A gasp of shock could be heard from him. "There's a civilian vessel! They're headed for that!"

Ruby could hear several curses over the coms, and she herself drew in a sharp breath.

She turned around, pushing her machine to its limits in an attempt to get there first.

She watched in horror as the bugs approached the vessel. She was too slow. She wouldn't be able to intercept them…

Time slowed for her as she saw a blast of energy fired from the lead bug, her eyes trailing the projectile as it smashed into the hull of the vessel.

It wouldn't be able to take much of that, maybe only two or three more…

She needed to go faster…

Faster!

In her desperation she pushed her Aura out, trying to get it to move faster with her semblance.

It shouldn't work. She knew that and yet…

She felt something accept her Aura, feed upon it. She felt the machine lurch with unexpected acceleration beyond its limits.

Suddenly the machine turned into a red blur trailing rose petals. Had there been air its passing would have caused a tempest.

"Break field set! Sonic! Breaker!" Ruby shouted, activating the defensive field that would allow the Guarlion to ram safely.

The normally blue field turned red as it deployed, and before even Ruby could think about it her machine had torn through two of the bugs, shearing a third one's legs off in passing.

The unknowns paused, clearly confused, trying to identify the threat.

Ruby was also confused, but for other reason.

This should have been impossible…

A certain purple-haired genius crossed her mind. Had he…?

She shook her head, she needed to concentrate, at this rate she would leave the battlefield altogether.

She made a large turn, at the speeds she were going turning on the spot would be suicidal.

As she came around she saw the bug machines start to move towards the civilian vessel again.

She wouldn't have any of that.

She fired a salvo of shots with her Crescent Rose, destroying the lead machines before slicing through two others as she came to a stop.

She could think about that later, maybe try to find the somewhat unsettling scientist and get him to explain.

For now, she had enemies to cut through.

Her Guarlion disappeared in another flutter of petals as a ring of energy passed through them, only for it to reappear behind the offending machine, scythe spinning, shearing straight through its armour and proceeding through another.

Then she used the recoil of firing to spin around, tearing through another, followed with shooting yet another, letting the recoil, which inertial dampeners would normally compensate for, propel her machine away from the charge of another, letting the built in machine cannons tear into it as it tried to turn.

As the torn apart pieces of the bug-like machines floated about her Guarlion she noted that the Treue squad had finished as well, but she was exhausted, and couldn't offer more than a weak response before unconsciousness claimed her due to Aura exhaustion.

_**-Break—**_

He smirked as he watched the customised Guarlion tear through the Aerogater scouts. It seemed his gamble had been successful, and the machine had exhibited abilities beyond the norm, all the while emitting that unusual energy of hers.

It wasn't Prana, he knew that for certain, yet it seemed like there were enough similarities for **that** device to channel it into the rest of the machine.

He had to admit he hadn't expected the sudden burst of extreme speed or the rose petals, and he really hoped she wouldn't die from the desperate display.

She would be useful for his plans after all…

And he needed all the pieces he could get if he was going to stop himself…

For if they failed, it would mean the end of this world.

* * *

**Author's notes: Goodness gracious, writer's block is a terrible thing at times, don't you think? Oh well. Here's a chapter, although I'm not sure if its any good. So yeah, tell me. Write a review, point out mistakes, give random encouragement, point out what was good or even give suggestions. Even the most trivial amount of feedback can be the difference between "I can't be arsed to write this right now" and "Yes! Let's write this chapter!" Or something, at least I would like to say that, although that might not always be the case.**

**Well, I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

Leona Garstein was a serious individual that followed orders without question. As such, it was rare of her to wonder about things.

And yet now she found herself wondering about the young girl that lay in a bed before her, looking no older than 15.

The girl with her own specially built Guarlion that Leona had just seen first-hand surpass the limits of that model, far beyond what could only be explained with saying; "It has more powerful generators and drives installed."

Not to mention, no matter how you did, it should not have been possible to make it able to disappear in a flurry of rose petals (**rose petals?!**) only to reappear moments later somewhere else, ignoring intervening objects like enemies.

Not to mention she had then passed out, showing extreme exhaustion yet surprisingly little physical damage, considering the inevitable G-forces she should have been put under.

Simply put, Leona wanted to ask her some things, and she also wanted to look after her a bit to make sure nothing happened suddenly.

The girl, Ruby Rose was it? What an odd name, stirred, a soft groan being emitted from her tender lips.

Silver eyes slowly cracked open groggily searching the room before them, before hazily locking onto Leona.

"Yang?" The girl softly muttered as she blinked her eyes, the serious bodyguard barely able to hear her voice.

She shook her head, silver eyes closing momentarily before opening again, clearer this time.

"Oh, Leona." Finally the red-haired girl correctly identified her presence, and therefore the blonde decided to speak up.

"So you're awake again Rose, how are you feeling?" She asked in a level voice.

"Ugh, like I've run a marathon before sparring with… You know what? Never mind." The young girl shook her head tiredly, abandoning her comparison, seemingly deciding that Leona would not understand it. "I'm tired, really, really tired."

"I see. But other than that? No heavy pain in the stomach, no trouble breathing?" The rigid beauty asked, a hint of genuine worry in her voice.

She might have been lacking in emotional expression, but like her cousin she did have them, if supressed most of the time.

And no, not her older genius pilot and chef cousin, the younger genius pilot and sniper cousin.

The younger pilot seemed to take a moment to ponder before shaking her head. "Nah, I'm fine, just tired."

She nodded appreciatively. "Good. If you don't mind me asking, what happened exactly? I couldn't see clearly, but I'm certain your Guarlion pulled off feats beyond its specs."

A slight lie, she had clearly seen what it had done, but she thought that mentioning this wouldn't get her anywhere at this stage.

What she didn't expect was for the girl to lower her head slightly and mutter: "That's what I would like to ask professor Shirakawa…" before raising her head again. "I don't really know for certain myself, but it seems there's a system installed to allow it. I don't have the faintest clue how it works really."

Leona could only stare slightly at the girl. If it was the mysterious genius Shu Shirakawa's work, then it might have been possible. He was after all the man that took the, while powerful, still limited EOT used by the Hückebein series to control gravity as well as the notorious Black Hole Engine and used those to create the seemingly impossibly powerful Granzon.

She had heard that this girl had the favour of Commander Bian, but she hadn't expected her to be connected to Professor Shirakawa as well.

As such, the only response she managed was: "Oh, well, that's too bad, because it seems like a really interesting system."

The petite redhead nodded absentmindedly. "Yeah."

Leona rose, intending to leave, before remembering something.

"Oh yeah, Rose. What you did… It was really brave but… also incredibly reckless." She added before leaving. She didn't feel less confused in the least.

But she couldn't bring herself to prod deeper in the adorable girl's secrets. Not when it seemed like it would only run her into Shu Shirakawa, the mysterious scientist that assisted Bian Zoldark.

Besides, she had earned a sliver of respect from her, the least she could do was show some in return.

_**-Break—**_

'_Huh… The moon is… duller than I thought… up close…'_ 'Said' Will as they looked out over the blasted moonscape.

'_Well, it doesn't actually produce its own light, so in reality it's little more than a giant rock.'_ Eis retorted with a snort.

Of course, this was all kept in her head, and anyone looking at them from outside wouldn't see anything else than her looking at the moonscape distinctly unamused, which was nothing unusual, so no one ever paid any attention to it.

Except for, of course, Excellen Browning. The somewhat hyperactive and extremely mischievous woman cared little for her mood.

Or maybe she did, and specifically targeted when she looked the least happy. It wouldn't surprise her in the least.

The only problem with that was figuring out whatever she did it to annoy her or to cheer her up.

Maybe both?

Thinking about it, Yang could sometimes act in a similar manner, especially towards Ruby. Was it then a sisterly thing?

The surprisingly childish woman certainly did seem to try and get them to view her as a sister figure.

The thought of her absent teammate brought a genuine frown to her face. Where were they right now? Had they also been caught up in the mess that was the DC's rebellion?

If so, which side were they on?

She shook her head. It didn't do her any good to stand there mulling it over for the next unspecified amount of time.

Besides, if she stood around like this for too long-

Her last thought was interrupted by a familiar sight, long orange hair framing the youthful yet mature face that settled on her shoulder as two slender yet strong arms wrapped themselves around her.

"What's this? Is our dear Snow White troubled?" That familiar cat-like grin spread across her features. "Could it be…? Love? Don't be shy, you can confide in big-sis."

"You're not my older sister! And I'm not lovesick! Just worried about my friends!" She shouted as she twisted out of the embrace and turned to face the older pilot.

The grin widened. "Oh? You're worried for you friends you say? Could it be!? A tragic tale of two star-crossed lovers separated by this cruel conflict?" The mad-woman threw a theatrical gesture of despair, but the grin on her face ruined it completely.

"I- Wha…! What are you trying to imply here! Me and Ruby's not like that!" The heiress gave an indignant exclamation as her face reddened slightly.

'_That… Awa, awawawawawawa.'_ Even as Eis indignantly cried out, Will gave out an odd embarrassed sound, all the while giving her other self a mental image of her holding her cheeks and shaking her head furiously.

In the meanwhile Excellen seemed to become slightly confused about something.

"Odd, my senses as an angel of love tells me there something, but…" And said something incomprehensible as she tapped her cheek in thought.

Then she shrugged. "Oh well. I wonder though-"Whatever the well-endowed woman was going to ask was lost as a calm yet carrying voice interrupted them.

"Excellen, Weiss, we've arrived. I want you on standby, we're far from the Earth and any allied forces, so we might be attacked at any time. Besides, Mao Industries is an important target aligned with the EFA, the probability they might be attacked is high."

The voice belonged to Kyousuke Nanbu, her superior, as well as Excellen's superior and squad leader.

"Understood!" The excitable woman said in a singsong tone.

"Understood." In comparison her own reply held little emotion beyond the last vestiges of annoyance.

As she started making her to the hangar she looked out another window, catching sight of the massive Moon Cradle, the sight causing her to momentarily halt her steps.

She had probably never seen anything that ridiculously large. As far as she understood the Moon Cradle was meant as a sort of shelter, the outer shell capable of withstanding most assaults while the inside contained all facilities necessary to support a decent amount of people.

Currently it wasn't really in use, with only Mao Industries around, who used it as a factory as well as company headquarters.

She shook her head again, this wasn't the time to be impressed by such an oversized structure.

Especially considering it was meant for allowing some to escape if something went wrong by going into deep-sleep.

It was distasteful in her eyes.

Still, she was digressing again.

What was it Mao Industries produced again? Wasn't it…

She searched what she had learned while in this world.

And yet, the answer came from her other self.

'_They make… the Hückebeins… It also seems… they're involved… in the making of… some of the SRX-project's… machines…'_

Eis still didn't get how her other self could have better understanding of any subject, or for that- Wait, SRX-project?

'_I might have… used the information… available in… Mother Base… to check up on… confidential information…'_

'_You WHAT?! Or more importantly, when!?'_

'_During… some of… our training sessions… I was allowed… to look at… information about… PTs… during that time… I used some of… our knowledge… to look at… other files… Besides… it's not… like I had to… hack anything…' _

Eis felt her other self give a smug smile.

'_I don't… on the other hand… actually know… anything about… the SRX-project… apart from… it being… meant to… utilise EOT… As a matter of fact… it seems that Bullet's… Type-TT comes… from the SRX-project…'_

'_Oh… Well. It's not like I care but-wait? When did you start calling Luckfield by his nickname?'_

'_It's… easier than… his full name… Besides… we're on… the same side… don't you think… it's better if… we're on… good terms… with them…?'_

Eis just grumbled slightly as she climbed into the cockpit.

She had started to get pretty good at continuing like normal even while having those conversations, so it was more like she was deep in thought than literally zoning out completely.

As she sat down she realised that Ens- know what? Screw it, Bullet wasn't there.

"Wait? Where's Bullet?"

Luckily she didn't have to ask the question herself, as Excellen got there first.

"He went to Mao Industries together with Radha. It seems like they were going to do some adjustments on the Mk-II." Kyousuke answered curtly.

"Alone together with Radha? That's… I can't bring myself to make a comment on that." Excellen said.

It seems like even Excellen feared Radha's yoga. Might be something to remember…

Still, the Mk-II? Could it be…? The Hückebein Mk-II? It made sense, all things considered, although she sincerely wondered why Bullet would get something so juicy.

Oh well. She wouldn't complain, it's not like there was no chance of her getting a nice machine of her own, what with her connections with the Ri-Tech.

Of course, it would be nice if it didn't have a man-machine interface that split her mind in two, thank you very much.

It was bad enough as it was.

Although she had heard from them since that they were making headway with making a copy of the system that was safe…

What? She kept in contact with them, after all, it was their fault that she became like she was.

A slight annoyed sound told her Will was displeased with that comment.

Besides, it was nice to keep in touch with the other person like herself, the alternately sweet and bubbly or serious Cliana.

Still, things seemed calm enough. Maybe-?

An alarm told her nope. UCC forces were approaching, and they were going to intercept.

They never seemed to get a break, did they?

* * *

**Author's notes: Well, how was this chapter? It would be great to get some feedback. Also, what do you guys think of the whole Eis and Will thing? Just curious. **

**I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

They hastily manoeuvred into positions, Weiss joining the ATX-team, seeing as Bullet wasn't there it would be up to her to join Kyousuke up on the front.

She didn't relish the thought of having to try to keep up with the Alteisen, seeing as its speed when going in a straight line was unmatched, and Kyousuke seemed very fond of charging into the midst of the enemy.

Of course, it wouldn't have made much of a difference if she followed the Octo squad, seeing as Katina would just charge ahead with no regards to orders more often than not…

She watched as the Giganscudo floated into position, its massive bulk and mass meaning that even the elaborate and powerful Tesla Drive struggled to move it at any real speed.

While Weiss could always hope that the giant shield would just stay with the Hiryu, chances were Tasuku would be forced to charge because of his squad leader…

Could someone remind her why they hadn't lost any engagements yet?

Sheer luck it seemed to her honestly. When Sänger ambushed them the Giganscudo launched to stop him. Other than that the enemy hadn't really ambushed them all that often…

Although the Hiryu could take care of itself 9 times out of 10, especially considering the strength of the PT units, especially the ATX-team…

Maybe she should just stay behind and protect the Hiryu?

"Here they come! Let's get them!" Katina shouted as she charged off.

Thankfully it seemed only Russel followed her, while Tasuku lazily moved forward slightly. It seemed he was going to defend-

"Giga Wide Blaster!"

Her thoughts were interrupted by an astonishing sight. The golden wedge at the chest of the massive hulk extended, splitting into two parts, energy gathering around the tip, and, followed by Tasuku's shout, a massive beam of energy shot forth, rivalling the main guns of the Hiryu.

Okay, he was going to shoot the enemy from afar and then presumably intercept any attempts to attack the Hiryu…

When did they start employing actual tactics?

Her musings meant she almost missed the Lieutenant charging ahead. As a matter of fact, if it wasn't for him announcing his intent to move ahead, Weiss would have missed it.

As it was she was just slightly ahead of Excellen's Weißritter, and if it wasn't for the fact that the flying PT was taking pot-shots at the enemy formation ahead she would have gone ahead as well.

Oh well, no time to grumble. They would just have to use the Gespenst to its fullest.

"Right, right! How's this?" Excellen happily said as she fired several large calibre rounds at the Lions ahead.

"I don't think they can hear you." Eis couldn't help but respond in a snarky manner.

"Mu, Whitey, you're no fun…" The orange haired gal's face popped up, a clear pout on her lips.

She did her best to suppress her annoyance, but she could feel one of her eyebrows twitch, and judging by the glimmer in Excellen's eyes, she had noticed.

"Cut the chatter and focus on the enemy." Kyousuke's cool voice cut into their conversation, cutting it short.

"Got it Kyousuke!" The ever cheery woman said happily.

"Yes Lieutenant." Eis grumbled.

Maybe it was due to her impromptu decision to correct Excellen, but suddenly Eis found herself forced to defend herself when a Guarlion decided to boost in, drawing its sword.

Eis, being slightly less proficient than Will, tried to dodge backwards, but still took a small hit on the armour, nothing serious, but a slight blow to her pride.

As such, it might have been no surprise when she decided to stab the beam sword into the offender's head, destroying it and blinding the elaborate machine temporarily.

Not letting the enemy get away, she stabbed again, and again, and again.

'_I think… its disabled… by now… Eis…'_ Finally Will had to cut in and point this fact out.

Eis grumbled and allowed her other self to take control again.

'_Huh, this isn't too bad.'_ Eis thought idly.

'_We can't… let our… guard down… just yet…'_

Barely had the shyer of the two finished that thought when a number of new contacts appeared.

"New contacts! They're headed for Mao Industries!"

"Damn! We're out of position!" Kyousuke shouted, and Weiss saw that this was true.

The enemy reinforcements had arrived slightly north (?) of their position and as such they were in a poor position to intercept.

Except… Suddenly there was a machine blocking the path…

A blue humanoid machine, with a V-shaped antenna on top of its head, the Hückebein Mk II.

'_Hückebein…'_

"The Vanishing Trooper!" For some reason one of the enemy units had transmitted on an open frequency, allowing them to hear his words. "Accursed machine! Take it down!"

The Lions charged, firing their Railguns. But the Hückebein Mk II showed why it was considered a high-spec unit, easily dodging the shots as it retaliated using a rifle firing purple energy blasts before closing in and launching a small disc from a launcher on its arm.

The Chakram tore into the nearest Lions, tearing them apart with sharp blades before it returned back into its holder.

One of the Lions managed to get close, unleashing the Gatling Guns installed on the main body.

But these proved ineffective as a field of energy intercepted the bullets, nullifying the attack.

In return the attacker was cut apart by a Beam Sword.

Soon long-range energy beams from the Weißritter tore into the remaining newcomers, and between the sniping from the busty gadfly and the powerful Mk II their numbers were quickly reduced to but a few Guarlions.

The first was torn apart as the Alteisen slammed into it with its pile-driver at high speeds, the armour no better than a sheet of wet paper before the powerful piercing weapon.

The second was blindsided by the sudden charge of the Giganscudo, getting crushed and split apart by a full body-slam along a shout of: "Gigante Uragano!"

She supposed nearly 500 tonnes of metal slamming into something would be enough to destroy most things.

And the third…

The third decided to try and ram the Hückebein, but the targeted machine somehow called a gun that came flying on rocket boosters that then… docked… near the pelvic region…

Bad Will! Bad!

"G-Impact Cannon! Go!" Bullet shouted as the cannon fired a burst of powerful energy that slammed into the charging Guarlion, overwhelming the Break-field and crushing the machine completely before exploding.

'_Oh… neat.'_

_**-Break—**_

As they returned to the Hiryu, Weiss watched with mild interest as the Mk II docked into the hangar.

It wasn't as bulky as the Gespenst, and slightly shorter as well, but she guessed it made up for it in terms of mobility and agility.

It also had better weaponry for the most part, although the slightly phallic G-Impact Cannon was a bit…

Well, as a weapon it didn't leave much to complain about, but its design…

Who thought that was a good idea!

As she fumed slightly Bullet exited, followed by… Radha!?

Somehow, Radha had been present in the single seated Hückebein Mk IIs cockpit… during the battle.

It seemed that Bullet must have noticed her confusion, because he shook his head in her direction in a manner that said: "You don't want to know."

And she supposed she didn't.

It might just have been better for her state of mind.

'_Wait… Why exactly did they call it the Vanishing Trooper?'_

'_It's… a remnant… from its predecessor… An accident… during a test… destroyed… both the machine… and injured… the pilot… and a great deal… of engineers and… scientists…'_

'_Oh… That's why he said "accursed machine". That's a bit… unfair though, the Mk II shouldn't have that problem, right?'_

'_No… it lacks… the Black Hole Engine… used in the original…'_

'_Black Hole Engine… Sounds a bit ominous really.'_

'_What's… even more… unfair… is that… the Granzon… uses an… improved version… of the Black Hole Engine… yet no one… seems to… think its… going to… blow itself up…'_

'_Yeah, that's just… Wait… Where did…? No. Never mind.'_

'_That information… is actually… public…'_

'_Oh. Then it's actually pretty understandable that you would know that.'_

A slight rumble in their stomach interrupted their conversation, and they made a unanimous decision to head to the cafeteria.

_**-Break—**_

Gilliam Yeager was not the type of person to pry into the personal information on every person he met, but something about the white-haired pilot with a slight air of nobility, Weiss Schnee, had caused him to react.

A certain feeling that she… didn't quite belong… As well as a certainty that there were no important families named Schnee amongst neither the colonies nor on Earth.

And now… Now he knew for a fact that there was no family named Schnee to which he could connect the girl.

On top of that her personal information was, if one only dug deep enough, created only a few months ago.

There was also the fact that her benefactor was Alteur Steinbeck, a somewhat shadowy figure that worked with the Earth Government, as well as acting as sponsor for the Ri Technologists stationed in Antarctica.

This made the purple-haired major wonder… was she like him?

While he was at it he also tried to find something on Weiss' friend, Ruby Rose, but there was literally nothing in the EF databases, and he was forced to look into EOTI records to see if there was anything.

It was more difficult, but he did manage to find something. Ruby Rose, a 15 year old girl brought to Aidoneus Island a few months ago…

Apart from some obligatory medical records from then there was nothing.

This caused the Major to look through the medical records of the Ri Techs, and he did find that the Ri Techs had taken care of a girl named Weiss Schnee… around the same time Ruby Rose was taken care of by the EOTI.

Coincidence?

Considering it seemed the two knew each other…

Most assuredly not.

Next he checked to see if there were any similar cases around, and while he did find a number of people put into hospital during that time, two others stood out, Yang Xiao Long and Blake Belladonna.

Both had false records fabricated by Major Ingram Prisken of the SRX-team, and both had received medical attention at more or less the same time, Yang Xiao Long at a hospital in Tokyo and Blake Belladonna at Izu Base.

As a matter of fact it had been Lieutenant Kyousuke Nanbu that had found the later, just before the accident with the Wildraptor that had him transferred to the ATX-team…

Gilliam wasn't unfamiliar with twists of fate, and this seemed to him one that had been facilitated by an outside force.

Who were these people actually?

He entertained the thought that they might be spies from either the Guests or the Aerogaters, but neither seemed likely.

Those peoples were more cunning than that, they wouldn't be that conspicuous, that much Gilliam was willing to bet.

It was at times like this he was tempted to look into the future, but he had sworn to never use that power again, so he wouldn't.

It wouldn't do if he were to repeat the sins of his past in order to save the world… again.

Then… could they be…?

_**-Break—**_

A dark, shadowy figure chuckled darkly as he continued to observe the various happenings of the world. He had never expected for his displaced followers to be this useful.

They might even prove better pawns than those that still followed him…

After all, it wasn't often one saw such interesting changes in a people, and these ones had the bonus of having been strengthened by stray incarnations of his power…

Yes… He would have to thank that meddler for bringing this to his attention…

Preferably by tearing him apart both body and mind.

The dark chuckle turned into a maniacal laughter as new plans formed in that inexplicable beings mind…

* * *

**Author's notes: Do you ever have that kind of moment when you find yourself wondering what you're actually doing? That tends to happen to me a lot. Also, more shadowy figures of undefined identity, because I can.**

**Oh well, as usual, it would be most appreciated if you could review, you know, point out mistakes, praise things you liked or hate on things you didn't like. You know, the way you're supposed to do it.**

**I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

It was a dream. It was nothing more than a dark dream. It had to be…

The young descendant of the Simeon clan writhed as the darkness encroached upon her, the darkened souls of the Neshamah clawing at her body…

Wait… No… What was all of this? She didn't use… This was all wrong, she had never heard that term before…!

"Hoh? What is this? I thought you had yet to learn about them, Heiress of the Simeon clan. But it seems what has been engraved into the very genes of your clan will not leave you even after several generations."

A deep voice echoed in this empty space, and the souls of the damned suddenly parted, giving her a glimpse of the heart of this hell…

A great dark figure. Roiling shadows. And three red eyes staring straight through her very being.

And as she woke from her slumber, a last few words escaped her lips…

"Spirit… Emperor…"

_**-Break—**_

"Gah! These things are tough!" Yang couldn't help but exclaim as her Jet Magnum failed to cause any real damage to the hulking behemoth of a land-ship she was trying to destroy and she was forced away by a barrage of missiles.

It was clear enough that the DC knew they were coming, seeing as they had gone through the effort of positioning a group of massive tanks/carriers on top of platforms… in the middle of a fucking reef…

Just so they could use the massive guns mounted on top to bombard the Hagane as it tried to pass.

And so they had been forced into this battle, which turned out to be pretty annoying thanks to the sheer size and bulk of armour these things had.

Not to mention they weren't exactly unguarded or something.

There was also a whole battalion of DC forces there.

Luckily machines like the Grungust and Wildraptor, along with an overall high level of skill allowed them to overwhelm the opposing forces, and now they were wailing away on this. Stupid. Tank!

As she thought this she closed in again under the cover of another attack on the other side by Blake, who was deftly evading the missiles and cannon fire while she fired whatever she could against the behemoth.

"Seriously. These things really are taking a beating." Ryusei said in agreement.

"Less chatter more destroying!" Rai cut in.

"We're doing that, we're doing that." Yang answered.

Finally, after the umpteenth plasma charged punch managed to cause a big enough hole, Blake managed to circle around and launch a slasher into the structure, causing untold internal damage and setting off an ammo store or something, causing a critical structural failure and a catastrophic chain reaction that caused the whole thing to explode spectacularly, forcing them to distance themselves and cover their eyes, they managed to finish it off.

At the same time an oversized sword slash tore another apart, destroying the cannons and the front ram of an already immobilized tank, causing it to become a non-issue, while the third was struck by a well-placed bomb from Ryusei, causing it to blow out, leaving nothing but a smouldering wreck.

They all heaved a collective sigh of relief as they started moving to regroup with the Hagane so they could move on, exhausted by the drawn out battle and low on ammo and energy, as well as in need of repairs…

It was in this moment that Yang's instincts screamed at her to dodge, and she only barely managed to get out of the way of the focused high-gravity well as it soared by before landing hitting an island, imploding so violently that the entire island was wiped off the face of the earth.

She cringed as a new contact entered the battlefield.

She knew that attack. There was only one machine in this world capable of casually tossing around Micro Black Holes in that manner.

The demon of gravity known as the Granzon… one of the few things Yang Xiao Long had ever seen that gave her nightmares.

It hovered lazily down to the south of them, unfazed by its miss, taunting them to get closer, to try and shoot it down.

Maybe if they were all in tip-top condition with full ammo, energy reserves at maximum and just having had a full repair.

Maybe then.

"Shit." She said tiredly.

"Oh God! What's he doing here?!" Ryusei shouted fearfully.

Honestly the fact that even Ryusei was scared told volumes of what it had done to them.

"Retreat! Hold the Granzon off and retreat!" Daitetsu ordered.

His voice was even, but a slight quiver in it told Yang that even that man was afraid to fight the Granzon, especially in their current state.

It made sense considering Daitetsu had been aboard the Shirogane when it was shot down.

One of the most advanced vessels of war ever designed, for it to be shot down so easily…

She was sure it had left its mark even on an old war dog such as the captain.

Yang immediately fired of a salvo of Split Missiles as she started moving away, doing her best to cover hers and the others withdrawal. She could only watch as they bounced harmlessly off the armour after having to pass thorough that force field.

And she could only hold her breath as the Hagane slowly started moving towards the agreed retreat route.

She really wasn't sure what they should do if another one of those Black Hole Clusters came the Hagane's way, because she didn't think she could stop it, at all.

Then the only way to protect the ship was to draw his attention, and steer his aim away from it.

Having decided this, she opened fire, emptying the last of her machine gun ammunition as she moved slightly off to the side.

It seemed as if she wasn't the only person with that idea, as she was joined by Rai's Schutzwald, which opened fire with its beam cannons.

"Xiao Long! Withdraw! I'll draw his fire!"

"Screw that! I'm not gonna leave you to draw the attention of that monstrosity alone handsome!"

A tsk was her only indication that he had even heard her.

Despite the fact that neither attack should have been sufficient to threaten the Granzon, he still turned to face them instead, all the while those yellow eyes focused on her.

Then the chest glowed, and wormholes opened around it.

That silly wormholes plus energy beam attack was coming, and she wasn't certain she could avoid it entirely.

She started moving more spontaneously immediately, not even waiting for the first beam to come rushing at her.

Thanks to this she managed to avoid the initial encirclement, and only really had to avoid the later beams and those that came in her direction regardless.

All in all she got away with just a few scratches and a missing forearm.

As this was going on an energy beam from elsewhere smashed into the Granzon, actually causing a minor bit of damage.

The Granzon launched another set of energy beams, but even that devious attack was unable to catch the Wildraptor, and the fighter jet/robot changer whooshed past at full speed.

"Get outa here you two! The Wildraptor is better suited for this task!" The hot-blooded otaku shouted at them as he continued doing his level best to avoid the Granzon's counterattacks.

"We can't just let you do it alone!" The blondes retorted in a surprisingly synchronised manner.

"Then why not leave that task to me?" A new voice entered their conversation as a massive shape smashed into the Granzon, displacing it with its sheer mass.

"Lieutenant Irm!" Yang exclaimed in surprise.

Yes, what had hit the Granzon was the Gust Wing, the Grungust's jet mode. Yet even it was in a poor position grinding into the Granzon, as its gravity manipulation was more than enough to allow it to hold its ground, and soon the thick armour plating was rent by the sword the Granzon suddenly took out of nowhere.

"Damn. Seriously?" Irm muttered, just loud enough that they could hear.

Instead of trying to keep moving forward, which was proving impossible, the blue-haired ace instead transformed to Grungust, letting the fact that this form can't fly drop it down towards the ocean underneath.

"What are you waiting for?! And what's this about calling me by name and rank while you call Rai 'handsome'?! I would really prefer if a beauty such as yourself were a bit more informal." The womanizer then said without missing a beat.

"But it's much more fun with Handsome, he gets more annoyed." Yang replied with a smile. "Besides, you're not **as** handsome as he is." She then added with a wink.

"Damn it Xiao Long! This isn't the time!" Rai shouted and started leaving. "Come on! The Hagane is almost away!"

"Got it! Geez, no need to shout like that. I **am** listening after all." She responded with false displeasure.

"Then act like it!"

She just giggled as she started moving away, although she did avoid going straight towards the Hagane so as to not get caught in some attack towards or from the ship. Rai followed after firing one last shot, although judging by the displeased sound made by the sniper, it didn't really do anything.

"Is he even trying?" Yang asked as they headed away, keeping an eye on the battle they were leaving behind.

"What do you mean?" Her fellow blonde queried in return.

"Well, apart from the Grungust there's nothing we have that can really do any more than just trouble the Granzon, and even then only if he allows. So why not just go straight for the Hagane?"

Her words caused the genius pilot to frown. "Certainly, you raise a good point… Professor Shirakawa might have some ulterior motive."

Finally the stoic man sighed softly and shook his head.

"We just don't have any way of knowing what it is. For now it's better to just be glad he's not taking this seriously, and try to take advantage of it."

Yang nodded slightly. She wasn't much for cheap tricks, but she had come to know, through painful lessons, that sometimes it was necessary.

And finally, the gravity manipulating demon stood alone on a former battlefield as its last opponents beat a hasty retreat.

_**-Break—**_

Alteur Steinbeck frowned deeply as he looked at the medical records from Weiss Schnee. While she was human enough, there were a few small details that bothered him.

For one, he could easily see the small signs that indicated genetic manipulation in her ancestry…

There were also minor differences that implied a connection with the Progenitors that left… did that mean she was…?

If he could perform tests that aren't available to or ethically accepted amongst the earthlings then maybe he would know…

Still, she had shown no hint that she was actually one of **them**…

No, they shouldn't even be bothering to come, he had made sure of it…

No matter. Things were still proceeding according to his plan. His puppet was doing a wonderful job of preparing the pieces, and it would only be a matter of time before **she** would reveal herself…

This time he would succeed… This time he **will** become a superior being. This time he will become the progenitor of a new humanity, and finally sever his tragic destiny.

All he needed was time. Time to move the pieces into position, so that they would draw out the guardian.

All he needed was a replacement Masyaf in case **she** couldn't be used…

Yes, even this unexpected development wouldn't stop his plan.

Maniacal laughter rang out in his suite.

The addition of one piece, even one as suspicious as Weiss Schnee was would not stop him.

* * *

**Author's note:I hope this came out as something reasonably good, instead of just bumbling stupidity. Also, I hope no one disagrees with my use of the name Simeon, or my inclusion of it in the first place. And if they do... Then that person should send me a PM explaining this, and maybe even giving a better thing to use. For anyone wondering what the heck I'm on about, that's just fine and dandy, and you have nothing to worry about.  
**

**Oh, and don't forget to leave a review, and feel free to leave suggestions as well. I'll do my absolute best to keep an open mind. And one last thing, there will be some elements that are... AU coming up in the future. Well, they already have. I hope that won't upset anyone? Although considering a crossover is more or less by definition an AU, I don't think that's a problem.**

**And I'm rambling again. I'll probably be really fun when I become an old man and start being even less coordinated... Suddenly I feel sorry for those who would have to take care of me at that time...**

**Oh well... I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

"All units, battle stations! We will soon commence the recapture operation!" Rio's voice rang out from the PA system.

Blake wished she remembered the name of the base they were going to liberate, both from DC occupation and of its supplies.

Recapture a base and resupply at the same time? Two birds in one stone.

The problem was the cannon battery station around the island and base.

In order to deal with these, the faster units that weren't so hampered by the water would charge in first and take out the cannons while the Hagane remained submerged just off the coastline.

And seeing as the Hückebein qualified for the task, she would participate, together with Ryusei, Irm and Ingram, while the rest would hang back and deal with any counterattacks against the Hagane from the Armoured Modules stationed at the base.

"Blake, are you ready?" Ryusei asked.

"Yes, I'm fine on my end. How about on your end?" She responded.

"All systems green, I'm ready to go!" Came a somewhat strained reply.

"I meant are **you** ready? We'll be going ahead of the rest after all." The Cat Faunus clarified.

The Otaku laughed awkwardly. "Yeah, I'm nervous. If we screw up the Hagane might be sunk after all."

"Ryusei, Blake. Get ready, we're launching." The cool voice of Ingram cut into their conversation, cutting it off.

"Got it!"

"Understood, Major."

Their replies, while both in the affirmative, where quite different. Where Blake remained calm and responded with respect, Ryusei shouted, maybe in an attempt to call up his own fighting spirit.

She couldn't quite tell if it worked, but seeing as he launched at the same time as everyone else…

She honestly couldn't tell.

"The Hagane will remain submerged until the cannon batteries are dealt with, so as to avoid their fire. All units, remain aware of long-range fire and approach. Just keep in mind the AA-missiles." The blue-haired major reminded them.

"Yeah!"

"No need to tell me twice!"

"That much is obvious."

No one hesitated.

"Let's go! We only have a few moments before they start firing upon us!" Irm then reminded them.

And but a few moments after the first shell splashed into the water right next to them.

Fortunately the cannons were poor at targeting smaller targets such as the PTs, and they were even poorer against flying targets.

As such, even though the Grungust was larger, they still targeted Blake and Major Ingram, since the Grungust had deployed in Wing Gust mode.

"Boosted rifle, fire!" In retaliation Blake fired a burst from the Boosted Rifle. But at her range it was unable to penetrate, and seeing as the target was a stationary emplacement, there weren't really any weak points to target.

She would soon have targets to use it on though, as she was seeing the tell-tale flare of the Armoured Modules' thrusters as they took off.

While a large number moved to attempt to force the Hagane to surface, there was still quite a few that moved to defend the cannons.

Off to the side she saw explosions ripple though one of the guns as its armour was first cracked open by a few well-placed missiles and then hit by a bomb.

Heh, she couldn't let those two hog all the glory…

'_This range… Then, take this!'_

She launched the Slash Ripper fly, guiding it towards the seams in the armour plating. At first it only ripped into the armour, tearing gashes in it, but soon it hit its mark, and soon an entire plate was sheared clean off.

Blake couldn't help but smirk at the satisfying result as she let the remote weapon take one last flight straight into the innards of the emplacement.

In the distance she could see another emplacement torn apart by the Wildschwein's Disk Slicer followed by a few spot on point-blank salvos from the shotgun, all the while a fierce battle developed further away into the ocean between the other PTs from the Hagane and the AMs from the base.

"All right! One left, then it's straight for the base!" Ryusei shouted excitedly.

Looking over she saw the Wing Gust just stop spinning as the cannon exploded messily behind it.

"Don't let your guard down Ryusei. They'll be extra intent on guarding the last one." Ingram said coolly as always.

"Yeah, but now we're all going for it!" Irm interjected.

"Let's get this over with." She added as they joined up.

True to form there was a small swarm of Armoured Modules in their way.

"Omega Laser!" "Beam Rifle!" "Boosted Rifle!" "Photon Rifle, fire!"

As one they all opened fire, tearing into the AMs in their way.

"Out of the way! Slash Ripper! Set! GO!" Blake then let lose another Ripper, tearing through a number of Lions before hitting a Guarlion that proved more durable and that therefore stopped it, albeit at the cost of being shot down.

"Let's do this! CHANGE Grungust!" Suddenly Irm shouted out loudly as the giant fighter jet changed into its giant humanoid form. "I suggest getting out of the way! FINAL! BEAM!"

He then promptly unleashed the chest blaster installed, the hyper energy beam ripping straight through the Armoured Modules as it impacted onto the gun emplacement, melting some of the armour and damaging the main gun.

"This is the finisher! Beam Rifle!"

Then a bolt of purple energy smashed into it, tearing through the weakened armour and into the innards, setting off the ammunition and causing the whole emplacement to explode messily.

"Okay! Now for the-"Ryusei's excited shout was interrupted by a literal hail of fire.

"Enemy reinforcements! They're between us and the base!" Irm said as a new squadron got between them and the base.

"Damn it! We need to get to the guns inside the base too!" The brown-haired Robot fan-boy screamed in frustration.

"What do we do? There's too much firepower, we can't get any closer!"

"New contact! Id… unknown!?" Rio relayed over the radio.

"What now?!"

"This speed! It's already past the second warning line! Entering the battlefield now!"

The machine that appeared was odd, kind of like a bird with a long neck.

"What's that?!"

But it was also familiar. The feeling it radiated… Like it was suffused with life-force… It couldn't be!

Then it changed. From its bird like form into a humanoid one. And then she recognized it. It was the one that appeared in Antarctica.

It charged through the Armoured Modules with ease, ignoring them all as it entered the middle of the base.

There it stopped for a moment, before that feeling of life-force intensified, going from a steady stream to a raging torrent… no, a raging hurricane as it burst out around the machine.

And once the hurricane had passed… It was the only thing left in the base's perimeter. All the cannons had been wiped out.

"MAPW!"

MAPW… a designation referring to weapons that targeted a wide area around them… such weapons were exceedingly rare, especially on a scale like that.

What was this machine?

"Huh? The Armoured Modules are retreating?" A confused Ryusei's voice broke her out of her reverie.

He was right. The AMs were retreating, and the base personnel surrendering, as the base had become vulnerable to long-range bombardment by the Hagane.

"We… won?" She said in disbelief.

Suddenly the unknown ceased functions and crashed down towards the earth. Before she could even think about it she had caught it, seeing as she had been subconsciously approaching it that whole time.

She noted that the life-force flowing through it had weakened. Was it because of that attack?

It had to be. Obviously an attack like that wouldn't end well.

"Hey! Are you alright?!" She tried to contact the unknown.

No answer.

"Belladonna, bring it to the Hagane. We owe him and have some questions for him." Daitetsu ordered directly.

"Yes sir!"

_**-Break—**_

"So? What kind of guy was it?" Yang asked as they reunited near the infirmary.

"Can't say much about him. Seemed normal enough." Blake answered thoughtfully.

"I also heard there were two cats with him." An odd grin formed on the busty blonde's lips.

"Yeah, about those…" The cat girl pulled her friend closer and spoke in a hushed voice. "They're not cats."

"What?" Was all the other responded with, confusion clear on her features. "Then what are they?"

"I don't know. They look like cats, act like cats… But something's wrong. They don't smell like cats, but more like the Zephyr…"

"The what now?"

"The Zephyr, it's a wind, a breeze." The black-haired Huntress shrugged. "It was the first thing that came to mind. As a matter of fact, that whole machine smells like a strong gale more than anything else, and it clings to the boy as well."

The bodacious Huntress simply stared at her partner for a few minutes. "Since I have no intention of sniffing the thing, or the cats… or the guy." The last part was said in such a manner as to implicate impure intentions.

"Yang!" Blake whispered harshly.

"Just kidding, just kidding." Yang tried to soothe her raging partner. "But in all seriousness I'll just believe your word for it."

"They **talked**!?" Several simultaneous loud shouts thundered from the infirmary.

Of course, being two teenagers still, the two Huntresses hurried into the infirmary, only to find all others present staring at the two cats that had been brought in along with the boy.

One was white with blue-eyes and a blue collar with a bell on it, the other was black with amber-eyes and a red ribbon tied around the neck with a bow at the nape of the neck.

They were currently standing as far away from the others as possible with wide-eyes, as if they had been caught in the act.

"Meow."

"Meow, meow."

The two immediately started meowing.

The problem was… Few cats actually sounded like that…

"Okay. No, that's not how cats sound." Blake pointed out, mostly to the two cats themselves.

They sounded more like two people trying to sound like a cat than actual cats.

It wasn't a bad imitation per see… it just so happened that they really didn't sound like any cat Blake knew…

The two cats just stared at her for a short while.

"Kuro, Shiro. Stop that stupid act already." The whole thing was interrupted from an unexpected angle…

The passed out boy had awoken, and had suddenly admonished the two cats.

He had long dark-green hair with emerald coloured eyes. Hanging off to the side was his grey jacket and the gloves he had been wearing. For now he only had a red shirt covering his upper body, while the rest couldn't be seen underneath the bedsheet.

"Okay then. What are they?" The Cat Faunus asked pointedly.

The green-haired boy scratched his head sheepishly.

"What you say… They're my familiars…"

"What…?"

_**-Break—**_

Ruby had had many weird dreams in her time, but she couldn't really think of any time she had been this aware of it, of her own actions.

Of course, when she was also floating about lazily in an empty space with only a silver-haired teen for company it got even weirder.

Once again she found herself wondering whatever or not you could dream about someone you had never seen before.

"Who… are you? You are not the one I was seeking to contact..." The silver-haired teen spoke up with confusion evident in his voice.

"I'm Ruby. What do you mean you were trying to reach someone else?" She answered innocently.

The teen seemed a bit surprised about the answer. "My name is Cobray, Cobray Gordon, and I was attempting to contact my originator's self in this existence again…"

"Your originator's… self? I don't really get it, but I'm sorry for somehow interrupting you." Ruby apologized without really knowing why.

"You don't need to apologize… It seems something is blocking my attempts to communicate with him, and for some reason that meant I reached you instead…" Cobray looked contemplative. "Maybe it has something to do with your inability to properly control that power?"

Ruby wanted to question the mysterious teen about his comment, but she found herself losing contact…

And it was only as she was fading from that space that she noticed the machine that loomed behind the teen…

A pair of dark-red eyes resting on a head crowned by two devilish horns. A pair of great almost bat-like wings extending behind it. The very machine seemed to her slightly sentient, and within it she could sense the turbulence of dead souls raging.

And she knew… That this machine, was capable of ending anything it so choose.

And she feared it, its power, its nature… Even the Granzon with that dark presence lurking within could match it… Neither in fearsomeness nor in dreadfulness.

* * *

**Author's notes: I can't figure out anything to say... except possibly that I do actually think the Dis Astranagant is more terrifying than the Granzon, and it IS cannon that the Dis Astranagant is stronger, at least if my memory serves. **

**Oh well. I hope that if there's something stupid or wrong in my story you'll tell me, so that I can bash my head against a wall when I realise that you're right. Or you know, just leave a review encouraging me, that works too.**

**I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

With the newfound addition of the Hückebein Mk-II they had moved on, setting their sights on a space station that had been recently captured by the UCC.

Imagine their surprise when another Mk-II had shown up…

For some reason the enemy commander had seen fit to deploy a Hückebein Mk-II as well, and it was behaving a bit oddly… like it was unmanned…

Did he want them to capture it or something?

'_I don't like this.'_ Eis stated from her backseat.

'_Me… neither… Might be… a trap…'_ Will acquiesced as she evaded a poorly directed chakram, a well-directed stab with the beam sword halting the machine's function.

"I have a foreboding feeling about this…" Radha suddenly said a slight shiver in her voice.

"Yeah, I also have a bad feeling." Bullet agreed.

"A feeling?" Kyousuke asked for clarification.

"I can't explain it, but it feels as if we shouldn't bring it in." The young pilot said, all the while gritting his teeth.

"I for one feel that it was sent too far ahead, right into our hands practically, all the while having a poor pilot, and while the Mk-II isn't bad, it can't take on odds like these. I think it's a trap." Eis said imperiously.

"Oh my, this is the first time I've heard our Ice Princess voice her opinion during a sortie!" Excellen exclaimed, seemingly uncaring about the matter at hand.

"Excellen! Focus!" Came a sharp reprimand from the acting-team leader of the ATX-team. "So, what do you say Captain?" He then calmly asked.

"Hmm… If all of you think so, shoot it down." Lefina seemed hesitant for a few seconds, but ultimately she seemed to make a decision to listen to her subordinates.

"Understood! Chakram, go!" Bullet acted upon the order immediately, and unleashed the sharp disk like weapon.

As it shredded the machine, the insides of the cockpit was revealed, showing a number of canisters.

"Canisters…? Don't tell me!?" Radha gasped. "Gas!?"

"Hey, hey, hey! That's not funny at all!" Excellen turned somewhat serious, showing her far rarer and actually kind of scary angry face.

"Wasn't the use of Gas-weapons in space outlawed due to incidents such as the Elpis Incident?!" Weiss burst out, horrified due to what she had read on the whole thing after becoming interested in Elzam for… reasons…

"If that had gotten aboard the Hiryu…" If Bullet had been gritting his teeth before, then now he was grinding them. It almost seemed as if he would crush his own teeth underneath the pressure of his jaw.

"Hey! Siebel, that's what you said your name was right!" Kyousuke shouted out on an open channel, showing one of his rare bursts of emotion, as he tried to reach the enemy commander. "You dastard! How could you!"

"If you're all dead no one will ever know. And such a matter would gladly be swept under the rug for a hero who captured the Hiryu Kai." A response came, carried on a voice haughty, reminding Weiss of her family almost.

She could even picture some of them trying a tactic like that.

'_Somehow… I doubt… he would… get away… with it…' _Will provided from her corner of their mindscape.

'_Hmm…? Oh yeah. The Bransteins are famous for their nobility, and especially Elzam, who's a confirmed officer in the UCC/DC alliance disproves of such weapons, seeing what happened at Elpis and all that.'_ Eis agreed after a short time's consideration.

'_He's… an idiot…'_

'_That just makes him more dangerous.'_

'_I… know…'_

"That's it. We're going straight for him. Back me up!" With an angry shout Kyousuke sped off, the prodigious acceleration of the Alteisen letting him get more than halfway there before Will could even resume control to back him up.

Fortunately Excellen was on the ball, and had already started her supporting fire at the troops remaining between them and Siebel's ship.

In response the Peregrine class ship finally opened fire at them, although the powerful cannons had a hard time hitting such small targets, while the Hiryu was kept out of effective range since the Peregrine class was hopelessly outmatched by the exploratory vessel turned Battleship, both in firepower and durability.

Although the cannon fire was bothersome, Will's skills were sufficient to keep them from hitting them, and the main target was the Alteisen anyway seeing as the frontline breaker was making a beeline for it, ignoring the enemies left behind.

Once again she teamed up with Bullet to keep enemies of the Lieutenant's back, and seeing as Excellen had his immediate back covered, they simply made sure the hole he left wasn't closed.

Of course, it was getting harder for her to keep up.

With the Type-TT it had been fine, since it was still the same base machine with more or less the same specs, if some unusual weapons.

But now that he was using the Mk-II?

Higher specs, better weapons and a slightly better pilot?

Will just couldn't keep up with all that stacked against her.

Fortunately she had some help.

In the form of a gargantuan shield that smashed into the enemies, their attacks bouncing off the heavy armour and defensive field of the Giganscudo.

"Thanks… Tasuku…" She said appreciatively.

"No problem!" The engineer turned pilot said excitedly, even as missiles from the Peregrine shook the mighty Special Unit. "Wait? Did you just…?"

"Less chatter, more smashing, Tasuku!" Katina shouted at the purple-haired boy.

With a sound best described as 'eek' Tasuku stopped talking and threw the Giganscudo into the fray.

Which for the Giganscudo basically meant lazily floated in and starting to smash into the far smaller Armoured Modules, practically swatting them with the shields mounted on its arms.

Admittedly even this Juggernaut could withstand an unlimited amount of punishment, and it was still taking damage, although considering it was drawing fire like moths to the flame…

…

That was a terrible pun…

Damn it Yang!

Still, the Giganscudo was holding out well, so all she needed to do was support it.

And against these guys…

"Jet Magnum!"

She need only smash this fist into them!

In some dark corner of her mind the term fisting popped up, and Will had to furiously shake the thought out of her head.

Not the same thing! Not relevant at all!

'_What… was that?'_ Eis asked incredulously.

'_N-nothing! N-nothing at-at all!'_ Will replied in a flustered manner.

By the time she ceased being flustered the battle was over, the UCC forces, while skilled, were unable to match the elite and well equipped members of the Hiryu Kai's PT squadrons. Well, the ATX-team that was.

While Katina finally had a Gespenst to play with, and Tasuku had the Giganscudo…

Well, the Gespenst was only barely a match for the Armoured Modules, and only in the hands of a skilled pilot, while Tasuku was hardly a skilled pilot, and as such couldn't use the Giganscudo to its full potential.

Still, with the freakishly skilled ATX-team… The ludicrously lucky and capable acting leader Kyousuke Nanbu who was able to control the most impractical machine ever built, it was really top heavy, and if the pilot wasn't careful it would just tip over (trust her, she has tried, Will, despite her unusual aptitude, still fell over).

While at a glance too carefree and undisciplined, Excellen was an unbelievably good sniper, and very capable of utilising the Weißritter's mobility (Will could handle that one, but it was still a bit of a challenge, especially seeing as it had light armour).

And then there was Bullet. He was the one member of the team that Will might be able to match, but he had an uncanny intuition, and sometimes she wondered if he literally **knew** where his opponent was going, since he had a frightening knack for predicting their next move. And the Hückebein Mk-II was a truly magnificent machine, with superior mobility, armouring and weaponry to the Gespenst.

And that was without mentioning the now defected former team-leader, Sänger Zonvolt. A man of great virtue, if a bit of an odd personality, he managed to stand as a pinnacle of manliness, even amongst the people Weiss knew… which said a **lot** considering the difference between their worlds. She had no doubt the man would have made an excellent Huntsman. And the machine he piloted… The Grungust Type-0… while nowhere near as large as the Giganscudo, the might machine made up for it with pure strength. A powerful rocket propelled fist as its most basic weapon, and a devastating beam weapon for when there was a lot of enemies. Strong armour and at least a modicum of mobility combined with the skills of its pilot to become more akin to a god of war than a man made weapon. And this was before even taking into account the weapon known as the Type-0 ZanKanTou or the Ship Cleaving Sword, a massive blade capable of tearing through even the mighty defences of the Giganscudo, known to some as the Ultimate Shield.

It was a heavy blow to learn that he had gone over to the DC, but why?

And why was Ruby with the DC?

There was so much she didn't know… What was this world? What was actually going on?

And the Bugs, or Aerogaters… they couldn't be…

_**-Break—**_

Alteur was intrigued. Truly he was intrigued beyond measure.

If Weiss Schnee truly was what he suspected, although he couldn't know for certain, she did come through a Crossgate after all, and he had no idea where exactly it led since he didn't actively control it…

No, to be more precise, he could not yet control it. For that he would need the memories of the void, the memories that would tell him all about who he was… and what he actually strived for.

For now it was only fragments, albeit fragments that gave him knowledge that was vital to his plans, it was still somewhat incomplete.

He knew he disliked Ryusei Date, or that Ingram Prisken would rebel, no, had already rebelled, but he couldn't quite figure out why or how.

Of course, he also managed to find som

* * *

ething even better.

Weiss Schnee wasn't the only one. Apart from her at least two more, who had fallen into Ingram's hands, had come.

It seems something scattered them, implying someone or something interfered with the Crossgate, but he didn't know for certain yet.

While one of the two weren't so obviously tempered with, it was still there.

But the other one…

She had animal features, more exactly, cat ears and eyes with elements from a cat's. It was so blatant it couldn't be natural…

No, if it was that level of extremeness then it was doubtless that genetic manipulation on a high level had been involved.

And yet the base was the same, implying that they all descended from the same people…

And that, that was the most intriguing part!

It was clear they were descended from **them**.

He just couldn't figure out where or when, because their lines were far too old, far longer than anything that matched with his knowledge.

Then was he wrong?

Were they just similar since **they **were descended from the same people as the Humans of Earth, and the girls were ultimately Humans?

Maybe that was the first thing he would do once he regained his true self?

Yes, once he became the new Ancestor he would figure out where these girls came from.

After all, the Crossgate couldn't just connect anywhere, it needed an exit…

Therefore the connection should still be there, and so, with luck, he should be able to find that world.

But first, he needed to get the whole farce with the Nevi'im and Ingram's handpicked pawns over with, that would be the first step in drawing **her** out.

And this time, oh yes, this time he **will **succeed.

_**-Break—**_

She stirred. She stirred, because she felt it. The presence of one who could awaken her, one who could bring forth her power…

But where, who? Augustus? No… Someone else… It didn't matter though. She didn't yet need to awaken, and even if she did, she already had her Masyaf…

Had that girl perhaps sired progeny while she slumbered?

It didn't matter. She, the Motherly Gan Eden, did not need to awaken, so she would continue to slumber…

Until such a time that the Earth needed her protection again…

* * *

**Author's notes: And so one of the most convoluted plots ever gets even worse, yay! For those who don't understand, I mean Alteur's plot, not mine, that would imply mine is convoluted... Is it? And this chapter just took way too long to write, for no apparent reason what so ever. It was just hard to figure out what to do for that first part. Also, am I the only one who finds Excellen's serious face a bit scary? I'm being serious here by the way.**

**Oh well. Leave a review with your opinions, as well as point out any mistakes I made, that would be most appreciated. It's really hard for me to find them. Suggestions are also nice, but those are of course subject to my personal opinion, and might never even be considered.**

**I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

With a few answers from the mysterious green-haired boy, which basically amounted to: "I'm from another place, and these cats are my magical talking familiars."

Okay, so that might not have been the explanation given to her, but she kind of started to zone out when he said his cats were familiars.

Seriously?! Like that what witches have? That doesn't even make any sense to her!

Besides, she wasn't allowed to question him much more, and it seemed he finally realised he needed to keep secrets, so she didn't get much more out of him anyways.

It was when she was getting a bit short of temper, the stress of being in another world and having to fight her team-leader and not knowing where Weiss that pompous heiress that she nonetheless still thought of as a friend and…

"Argh!" The raven haired Faunus girl bashed the wall in frustration, giving out a frustrated scream.

"Are you alright Blake?" A questioning voice.

She shook her head to clear it a bit and drew a deep breath.

"I'm fine Ryusei, you don't need to worry about me." She tried to sound as collected and level as possible.

"Really? You don't seem-"Ryusei continued.

"I'm fine. You don't need to worry." Blake cut him off.

"But-"Whatever the boy wanted to say was cut off as his head was put into a lock by a strong arm.

"If Blakey says she's fine then just give up. She's stubborn about things like that." Yang said cheerfully as the poor teen was crushed into her… 'assets'.

"Ah! Yang! I got it! Let go! Can't…" The poor otaku shouted, desperately flailing to get out of the ridiculously strong grip that was slowly suffocating him.

The busty blonde let go with a slight pout.

"Why is it that everyone always wants me to let go?" She asked innocently, or as innocently as was possible with that person at least, all the while Ryusei was grasping for breath while shying away from her.

"You seriously don't know?" Blake murmured with a disbelieving expression on her face.

"Hmm? What, you say something Blake?" Yang asked, not having heard the murmur.

"Nothing, Yang, nothing." The raven haired Huntress said with an amused smile.

"All hands, prepare to sortie! Enemy contacts!" Suddenly Rio's voice rang out through the hallway from the PA system.

"Let's go." Suddenly Yang became serious.

_**-Break—**_

Yang wondered as her Gespenst left the hangar, was it really worth it for her to do this right now? Or should she be working harder to try and get home?

No. She didn't have much of a choice, right? If she wasn't working for Ingram she probably wouldn't be able to do much at all. And she did meet Blake… And-

She looked out over the water before her, behind her an island stretched out.

But what halted her thoughts wasn't the gorgeous view.

It was because, at the back of this non-standard unit of Armoured Modules, was a very non-standard Guarlion, carrying the colours, and most importantly the emblem, of her little sister Ruby.

And the buxom blonde despaired.

She couldn't fight her sister!

That was just not possible for her!

"Who are these guys?" Ryusei asked, referring to the different colour scheme of this new unit.

"They are the Treue squad, the elite guard of the UCC… what are they doing here?" Rai answered.

For a few seconds Yang wondered to herself how he knew that, but then she remembered that Rai's brother was a high-shot in the UCC, and according to what she had been able to dig up after that, so was most of his family, minus Rai himself.

As a matter of fact… if the Treue squad were the elite guard…

Then the people they would have been guarding are the members of the Branstein family. That was to say Rai's family.

Okay, so she knew Rai was kind of aristocratic and all but… That's closer to royalty than simple aristocracy! Even Weiss' family doesn't have their own personal elite guard!

Was she really so desperate to ignore that her little sister was on the other side on a battlefield?

Okay! Focus.

If Ruby comes, do your best to avoid her without hurting her…

Take down the rest and she should either retreat or surrender…

"Hey! That Guarlion! Is that… Yang's sister?" Garnet exclaimed with worry staining her voice.

"Yeah. It is." Yang gritted her teeth and forced herself to accept the situation.

"She's with the Treue squad now? Well, I guess she was with Elzam first time she showed up so…" Aya said contemplatively.

"Enough chatter! Here they come!" The stern voice of Rai snapped them into focus even as the Treue squad moved out.

Since it seemed like Ruby wasn't intending to move out yet, although that really didn't mean anything considering the speed her Guarlion could move at, Yang decided to move out and face the oncoming Lions head on.

But it didn't quite go as expected. The Treue squad wasn't the elite guard for nothing, and combined with the difficulty Yang had controlling her Gespenst on water, and it was no wonder she couldn't quite do as well as she wanted.

Her attacks missed, and she had to focus all her attention on not getting completely destroyed.

In the meanwhile, Rai had engaged one of the other Guarlions that had accompanied the unit, presumably the leaders of the unit, weaving a deadly dance of cannon fire and railgun shots with the occasional sudden charge.

This was finally interrupted when Aya launched a Ripper into the Guarlion, temporarily halting it, and giving Rai ample opportunity to land a solid hit.

While the Guarlion still flew, it seemed it wouldn't be able to fight, and soon retreated.

But by now Yang had managed to retreat far enough to stand on solid ground, and suddenly it became far easier, or at least so it felt in that one moment, for Yang to fight, something the Lion that had been harrowing her all this time found out the hard way.

Having well memorized the patterns of her opponent, and surprising the bastard with a sudden increase in ability, Yang's Gespenst's energized fist met it head on.

"Jet! Magnum!" The sunny teen shouted heatedly. "Oh! That felt nice!"

She was glad to have managed to actually hit the thing, and seeing the machine explode violently brought a gleeful smile to her face.

She looked towards the rest of the skirmish, and noted that only Ruby and the last Guarlion remained, and neither of them had joined the skirmish it seemed.

But just as she started considering moving in to help corner the two, a new contact appeared.

The first thing she noted as she looked up at it was that it was **large**. While not as large as the Hagane, it was taller than the Grungust. Coupled with a generally spiky design, and a blood red colouring, and she had to be honest.

That was probably the scariest looking machine she had ever laid eyes upon.

And while she might have hoped it was on their side, any chances that was the case were squashed as its pilots voice came over the open frequency.

"Warriors of the Hagane, I commend your fighting spirit. Let me and this Valsion test your mettle."

The strong, grizzly voice, a voice that had no place coming from a researcher… The powerful voice of the Supreme commander of the DC, Bian Zoldark.

"Bian Zoldark! What's **he** doing here!?" Once again it was Ryusei that raised his voice first.

"Commander Bian. What are you doing out here?!" An unknown female voice joined in.

"Pull back captain Hainkel. I will be the Hagane's opponent." The scientist turned commander said.

"But-"The woman called Hainkel started.

"Let's do as he says. The Valsion won't go down to them. Not as they are right now." A sweet voice interrupted.

This voice… it was Ruby's-Did Ruby just say that the Valsion would beat them…?

Yang really wanted to feel miffed about that but…

Ruby wasn't the leader of a team for nothing, and she was a weapons maniac… If she knew the capabilities of that machine, and judged that it was more than a match for them…

She might just be right…

With a disgruntled sound the captain of the Treue squad withdrew. But while Ruby distanced herself, she didn't leave the battlefield.

"What are you doing Rose? I told you to leave this to me." Bian questioned.

"And I will. But I will take the liberty of observing." Ruby answered.

And wait… she knew the man?!

Yang steeled herself.

"Ruby!" She shouted.

"Sorry sis. But you really should focus on Bian right now." That was all her sister said.

And it was only thanks to realising Ruby really meant it that she wasn't swept away as a massive torrent of energy started drawing in objects around the massive monstrosity of a machine.

She watched as the Grungust was pulled in, only for the Valsion to release a powerful wave of pure energy that sent it away again, causing heavy damage.

They quickly unleashed all their bullets at it, only to find the same type of barrier as the Granzon had mostly nullify the barrage, leaving the bullets to plink against the thick armour.

Yang resisted the urge to rush in, the fact that the bloody thing was flying over water and that it was wielding a very large sword making the normally hot-blooded gal hesitant to close in.

That, and bad memories from the Granzon.

"If you won't come closer… Then I'll just have to shoot from afar!" Bian shouted, surprisingly hot-blooded for a supposed scholar.

In response the Valsion pointed its arm towards them, energy gathering in a cannon like device on top.

"Cross Smasher!"

And with a shout the energy was released in the form of a beam with two spiralling beams around it.

Luckily they all evaded it, but its mere passing caused turbulence, and its impact as it hit the water surface caused a massive amount of water to burst out.

Then the others started unleashing as much firepower as possible, Blake unleashing the Slash Ripper, Rai hitting it with the Beam Cannons, Ryusei with his Hyper Beam Rifle, the Hagane firing its main batteries (and hitting, much to Yang's surprise).

With all these powerful ranged attacks hitting, and causing a bit of damage, next Irm closed in, having received field repairs from Garnet, who's jet had been equipped with a repair module, unleashing his sword, with Ingram simultaneously attacking with the Disk Slicer.

Seeing those two fearlessly close in, Yang felt she **had** to go as well, adding a Jet Magnum to the attack.

And despite all of this, they only dented the armour.

The Valsion had just taken enough punishment to sink a battleship, and it wasn't even hampered in its functions…

"You have got to be kidding!" She exclaimed.

She knew the Granzon was though, and this machine, with similar defensive equipment but more mass and armour, should be even tougher.

That didn't mean she expected it to be **that** durable.

"Enemy reinforcements!" Came Rio's distressed voice.

True to her words, a battalion of DC units arrived.

"Commander Bian! Please withdraw! We can't afford risking to lose you here!" A distressed soldier contacted Bian, coincidentally allowing them to hear since Bian had been talking to them.

A lot.

She didn't mind banter even mid-battle, but there should be a limit, and she was certain Bian crossed that.

"Hum, well, it seems you are not yet worthy. Very well, I will withdraw for now." The strong-featured man conceded, and the massive machine withdrew.

None of them tried to stop him, as they didn't feel confident in their ability to fight him under these odds.

It was simply a smarter move to let him go right now.

"Huh? He's what?" Suddenly it sounded like Rio was questioning someone.

And even more suddenly, the machine they had taken in previously, apparently named Cybuster, launched.

"Heh. You seem like nice guys, so I'll lend you a hand!" The green-haired boy, named Masaki exclaimed and moved to intercept the DC reinforcements.

Yang's only warning that Ruby had passed by was the familiar rose petals and a tempest that buffeted her. Then she was there, blocking the Cybuster's path.

"I had a feeling you were here, and I have been looking forward to testing my Guarlion against you. Besides, it seems you know Professor Shirakawa, so I've been a bit curious to meet you." The young Huntress said as she brandished the oversized Crescent Rose replica.

"You, you know Shu? Tell me where he is!" Masaki shouted in response.

Ruby had a feeling he was here? How…

Oh.

That ability of Ruby's, the one that almost never manifested.

Summer had also had it, as far as Yang understood, but it was stronger in Ruby.

If only she could remember what dad had called it…

* * *

**Author's notes: Okay... was this, good? Meh. Also, that mission. Holy flip Bian! The first time through terrified me. The Valsion's theme, combined with the fact that the bloody thing is super though, and the fact that I did the massive mistake of having him spawn over water... I think the objective literally timed out on me. I'm sure most of you agree that the first encounter with the Valsion left an impression. I mean sure, you're fighting an elite squad... That doesn't mean you're prepared for facing an mid-point boss. Especially one you can't beat. Even a haxed out Grungust can't one shot him, so you literally can't beat him on this mission.**

**Okay, maybe you can, but still. Not with the units you have there normally, and especially not the first time around, since it can't be new game+, unless its OGs, but that's a remake, and I certainly haven't played it...**

**Ruby versus Masaki! Speedster versus speedster!**

**I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

"Professor Shirakawa should be at Aidoneus Island right now… But I can't just let you go there I'm afraid." Ruby said as she pointed her beloved darling at the unidentified machine…

Wait… how come it's unidentified if Shu clearly knows what it is? Matters for later.

"Let me?" The youth, Masaki is she remembered correctly, replied cockily. "If you think you can stop this Cybuster from going where she pleases you're dead wrong!"

Cybuster? She had never heard that name before…

What intrigued the small girl the most though was the number of presences within this so called Cybuster…

'_Four…? Although two of them are too similar to the most prominent one… Could it be some kind of constructs linked with him? I think I've heard of something similar… Nope, can't remember.'_

The fourth presence seemed to be embedded deep within the machine itself, and also seemed to be… muted, as if not allowed to fully manifest.

It slightly reminded Ruby of the presence she had felt within the Granzon, yet more tangible, like there was someone there, someone intelligent, instead of just a trace filled with hatred…

Instead of voicing any of these thoughts though, Ruby responded in kind.

"Oh really? Let's see about that." She smirked slightly as she spoke with a mocking tone.

"Heh! Bring it on!" Masaki shouted, clearly riled up. "Don't you interfere!"

The last words were directed towards the rest of the Hagane's bunch.

"You guys let me handle this one. Focus on the Hagane." She said to the DC battalion.

"Understood. We'll leave the unknown to you Miss Rose." Came the reply.

The opposing machine flared with life-force, and in response Ruby pushed some of her Aura into her machine.

She had found that if she only used a little she could improve its performance slightly without almost using up all her Aura.

They moved at the same time. Their forms blurring as the two machines moved, one like the gale, the other with uncanny speed.

Scythe met sword, sparks flying as the two of them clashed.

"Hoh? Who gave you that scythe?" Masaki suddenly asked.

"This particular one was provided by Prof Shirakawa." Ruby answered.

'_Why did he want to know that?'_

"I see… And yet it seems you don't know Cybuster, so you can't be one of his underlings…" The boy seemed thoughtful about something.

They both disengaged at the same time, one moving away faster than a spring wind, while Ruby's machine once again displayed a speed that should not be possible with the Guarlion.

They turned into two opposing storms, their weapons clashing again and again as they flew in and out.

"Heh, not bad. But… can you keep up?!" Suddenly the Cybuster flared with further life-force, which took on the form of a raging hurricane centred on the white-steel machine.

Before Ruby could even react the white bird-like machine had moved, showing even greater speed than before.

She only barely brought up Crescent Rose in time to block the sudden sword blow that came for her.

'_No choice…'_

With no other hand to play, Ruby let more of her Aura flow into the machine, activating her Semblance.

Suddenly her Guarlion speed up even further, rose petals scattering behind it.

Suddenly they were both furious storms, tearing up mighty winds as they tore through the sky.

One left a trail of greenish gales, the other a trail of fluttering rose petals.

Ironically enough neither of them were used to fighting at this kind of speeds, since neither of them had much opportunity to fight someone capable of reaching the same speeds.

'_This isn't good… at this rate I'll run out of Aura…'_ Such were the thoughts of the red-haired girl, unknowing that the green-haired boy had similar problems.

"This'll settle it! Break field!" She shouted, as the energy field deployed, and once again she pushed her Aura into it, turning it red, like roses.

"That's my line!" Masaki shouted back, as he struck his sword into a mystic symbol that suddenly appeared, unleashing a bird of fire.

Then the Cybuster changed into its bird form while plunging into the bird, and the flames suddenly turned blue as they enveloped it.

She charged at him.

He charged at her.

"Akashic… Buster!" "Sonic Breaker!"

They collided at unbelievable speeds, a red storm of roses and a blue phoenix.

The result was…

Unexpected.

They were both thrown off course by the colliding powers, neither pilot remaining conscious since they used up too much of their respective power sources.

_**-Break—**_

Both sides halted as the two forces collided, the sheer power released interfering with their systems.

Blake was stunned.

Ruby's Guarlion had most certainly just used Ruby's Semblance, and more importantly, that last attack had been infused with both her Semblance and a hefty amount of Aura…

Was Ruby okay? That kind of use…

As the two raging powers from the clash subsided, the raven-haired Faunus could suddenly see the two machines plummeting. Either they were both disabled or the pilots had lost consciousness…

"Ruby!" Yang moved first, trying to reach her sister.

But it seemed the DC thought otherwise, and got in the way as they recovered the Guarlion, withdrawing immediately.

"Get back here!" The blonde shouted furiously.

"Yang…" Blake said in a low voice.

It must be painful for the boisterous girl, since she always was quite protective of her sister.

"Recover the Cybuster and return to ship. We need to move on." The orders came with a certain sense of finality to them, and Yang let out one last cry of despair before she returned.

Over by the Cybuster Rai and Aya heaved it up carefully and started transporting it over to the Hagane.

As they boarded Yang and Blake went over to where the Cybuster was, and found it covered in cuts, remnants of its battle with Ruby, and her oversized replica of Crescent Rose.

Thinking back, Blake realized that Ruby had said that Prof Shirakawa provided it…

Ruby did seem familiar with the mysterious man, if her words were anything to go by. Not as much as Bian, but still…

The cat Faunus approached the unusual machine. As usual it smelled of strong winds…

It was doing this she noticed something.

A small scratch, presumably from a near miss…

That in itself was nothing odd. The odd part was that even as she looked at it, trying to figure out the metals used in the armouring, it disappeared.

Startled Blake looked at other parts, only to find that it seemed to be healing…

"Self-reparation?" She said shocked.

"Huh? Whoa, you're right." Yang answered as she noticed the same phenomena. "I've seen something like that before but…"

The blonde brawler touched the armouring.

"This is definitively metal…" She murmured, deep in thought.

Blake wasn't sure what Yang meant exactly, but she did have a vague memory of having heard of materials capable of such functions.

"A bit slow though…" Yang kept murmuring. "Actually, what is this metal? I have never seen it before."

Blake could only shrug, since she had no idea. Between the two of them Yang was better at metallurgy, partly since her sister was such a weapon nut, and partly because she had made Ember Celica herself.

Still… there were no self-repairing materials, or devices capable of enabling it, amongst Earth's technology, or at least as far as Blake had been able to gather…

So the Cybuster most certainly hadn't been built on Earth…

She looked as Masaki was carried out, unconscious.

The cat Faunus certainly hoped the boy wouldn't do that every time he fought, or that would be quite the problem.

_**-Break—**_

It was later the same day that Masaki came up to Yang with a thoughtful expression.

Behind the boy trailed an uncertain looking Kusuha.

"Hey, I was looking for you." He said and looked directly at her.

"Yes?" The buxom gal said with confusion in her voice.

"You know that girl I fought?" The green-haired teen asked seriously.

She hesitated slightly. "Yes… She's… my sister…" The gal answered with uncharacteristic lack of energy.

"Oh… Sorry 'bout that." The youth scratched his cheek slightly embarrassedly.

Yang shook her head. "No, its fine, you don't need to apologise." She smiled weakly.

Then she became a bit confused. "What are you doing here Kusuha?" She asked the blue-haired girl.

"I was showing him around when he asked where you were…" The nurse answered.

"Then why didn't you just tell him where I was and showed the way?" Yang asked curiously.

"I did but… He kept getting lost, despite my best efforts to keep an eye on him…" The young girl said embarrassedly.

The words took several moments to process, the very concept of getting lost while having a guide refusing to be accepted.

Finally she burst out in laughter, much to Masaki's chagrin.

"Do you know Shu?" He asked suddenly as her laughing fit subsided, cheeks still a little red from the embarrassment.

"Shu…" She wondered for a bit who he meant. "Oh! You mean Professor Shirakawa? No, I don't."

"Didn't Ruby say her Crescent Rose replica was given to her by him?" Blake suddenly asked.

Yang was confused for a few seconds before she remembered the conversation between her sister and Masaki.

She hadn't been able to pay much attention to it, what with DC soldiers trying to kill her and all. But she had overheard that part, now that she thought about it.

"Oh yeah, she did, didn't she…" She finally said.

Masaki looked thoughtful once again.

"Actually, how do you know Professor Shirakawa, and why are you so obsessed with him?" Blake suddenly asked the boy aggressively.

"I've met him before… he-he killed my father…" There was a slight tremble in his voice.

Blake was slightly taken aback, both by his words, and by the anger within them.

"Then where is the Cybuster from?" Yang asked. "It's obviously not from Earth."

Masaki looked somewhat hesitant, but finally sighed deeply. "I never was good with things like this. It's from a place called Langran in the world of La Gias."

"La Gias? Never heard of it." The raven-haired Huntress said.

"It's kind of like… apparently it's another world hidden within the Earth, or something." The boy looked a bit uncertain.

"Huh?" From several sources a sound of confusion could be heard.

"And that's where Cybuster came from?" Blake finally continued.

"Yes. And that's where Shu is from. I don't know the exact details, but he's from La Gias." Masaki said with a thoughtful expression. Then he gained a difficult expression as he looked at Yang. Finally he sighed and spoke up again. "That scythe your sister was using… The Cybuster's scanners said it was made with materials from La Gias… Not to mention… She was using something akin to-"

The boy seemed to cut off himself, unwilling to finish the sentence.

"She was using Aura, the power to manifest your soul. And your Cybuster seems to be infused with something akin to it." Suddenly Yang spoke up, revealing a secret they had kept ever since they arrived.

"Aura? Manifestation of the soul? Cybuster runs on my Prana… that is to say my life-force." It seemed that the boy would reveal something himself if they revealed something.

A simple minded and honest approach.

He really was kind of dense, wasn't he?

Still…

"Your life-force? No wonder you keep passing out…" Yang said with a surprised expression.

Masaki sighed deeply.

"I may have gone… a bit overboard." He said while scratching the back of his head sheepishly.

Blake simply gave him a kind of: 'Really?' look.

"Still… I'm a bit worried… He might be using your sister as one of his pawns…" The green-haired boy's expression suddenly turned serious.

_**-Break—**_

Ruby awoke to the ever stoic face of Shu Shirakawa looking down on her.

"Professor Shirakawa?" She asked, still a bit groggy.

"I see you have awoken. To think you would have been able to fight the Cybuster to a standstill… most impressive." A smug smirk adorned his features.

Well, Ruby had only ever seen him with either a smirk or a displeased serious expression before.

At that moment the girl thought he seemed like a combination of Glynda and Neo, since one of them was always stern and serious and the other always had this super smug smirk.

Still… wasn't there something she wanted to ask him?

Oh right!

"Professor, I was wondering, what exactly did you install in my Guarlion?" She asked seriously.

"It is a special device that allows the conversion of life-force into energy. I made some adjustments for you rather… special power, and I must say… it worked better than anticipated."

Power? For a second Ruby thought he meant her other ability, but then she realised he obviously meant her Aura…

But… how had he known she had it? And how had he known to fine tune for it specifically?

"How?" These thoughts emerged in the form of a single question.

"How?" The man's smirk grew. "Let's just say… I am not without power of my own."

Of all the things she had not expected him to say. That was probably on top…

Well, she couldn't exactly know for certain, seeing as she didn't even know she didn't expect that answer until he gave it… But that's beyond the point.

Besides, she wasn't expecting him to give one to begin with, which only increased the unexpectedness of the answer.

And with that, the man apologetically excused himself and left, leaving only a confused Ruby behind.

* * *

**Author's notes: So... I'm not sure the fight actually came out any good, so I would appreciate if you gave some input on the matter.**

**It would also be good if you gave input on the chapter as a whole. I wonder if anyone has figured out what power Ruby has been given that she doesn't have in the show. I'll give a hint, it's a power from the Super Robot Wars multiverse.**

**I hope you enjoyed, and that you have a nice day.**


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

The station they had just reclaimed, Columna, was the centre of all space-bound communication and a vital asset, one that the EFA needed dearly, lest they be unable to maintain contact between the various bases and forces around the globe, and off it.

It was also there they encountered the president of the colonies, Brian Midcrid, who had not shared the UCC's opinion that they should join the Divine Crusaders, and had come to Columna to try and end the conflict for the station peacefully.

Instead he had run afoul of Siebel, and been forcefully detained by the unscrupulous worm.

'_Well, what had he expected? That they would just lay down their arms and stop fighting if he asked nicely? Even Ruby's not that naïve.'_ Thought Eis with a repressed snort.

'_Don't… say that… it's not necessarily… a bad thing to be… a bit naïve… at times…'_ Will responded.

'_It gets people killed.'_ Came the curt reply.

Will could only cringe slightly in return.

'_Hey… Eis…? Do you… know the word… Ne-? '_After a few moments of silence, Will tried to speak up, but…

"Weiss." A strong masculine voice interrupted her.

They turned around, slightly startled, as they had not quite been paying attention to their surrounding while conversing.

"Lieutenant Kyousuke." She answered the approaching man.

"You had quite the troubled expression. Is something wrong?" The man asked, a slight hint of both concern and curiosity present in his face.

Of course, it was only with experience in reading hidden emotion and through familiarity with the stoic man that she was able to see that in the first place.

"No, I'm fine. What brings you here Lieutenant? Certainly you didn't come here just to speak with me?" She replied, a small smile gracing her lips.

"No, I didn't. Major Yeager wanted to see you. He's waiting in the Data Centre." Kyousuke responded, with no visible change on his face.

"Hmm. The Major? Any idea what he wanted?" The white-haired girl asked thoughtfully.

"Unfortunately, no. Now then, I've got to go." A small smile appeared on his face. "There's no telling what Excellen will do if I'm not watching her."

Eis gave a slight nod, while in the back of their mind Will chuckled bemusedly.

'_So, what was it you were going to ask?'_ Eis asked her other half.

'_Ah… that's… never mind…'_ The subdued voice responded with much hesitation.

'_Ne- Oh for the love of!'_ Eis exclaimed mentally in aggravation.

'_We… better get… going… We shouldn't… keep the Major… waiting…'_ Will pointed out evasively.

Eis grunted in annoyance and started moving.

_**-Break—**_

"So, what did you want, Major?" The white-haired girl asked as she entered the room.

"Weiss Schnee, I do not believe we have had a proper opportunity to talk before. I am Major Gilliam Yeager of the Intelligence division." The seriousness of his introduction seemed to offset the girl, as she first became surprised, before seemingly collecting herself into a more serious manner than previously.

The atmosphere in the room became serious, almost business-like.

She looked at him for a few moments, seemingly appraising him, and his intentions.

From the way she acted Gilliam felt that she was used to dealing with this kind of atmosphere, strengthening the inkling that she was of an aristocratic background… and the discrepancy of her existence.

What she didn't give the feel of though, was that of a spy caught.

No, it was more like a businesswoman caught not disclosing the full details of an important deal, like she was hiding something she saw as potentially deal-breaking…

"And I am Weiss Schnee, currently assigned to the Hiryu Kai's complement of pilots, and a temporary member of the ATX-team, under the instruction of Captain Lefina Enfield. But I trust that was not the only reason you called for me?" Any hint of casualness disappeared from her manner like vapour in the wind.

And here he had thought she was cold before. Before she was like her namesake, cold, but with a hint of pleasantness.

Now she was like the artic wind, cold and harsh, with no hint of softness anywhere to be found.

Ice Princess indeed.

"No. I had some questions for you. Take-"Gilliam started, maintaining seriousness, and starting to indicate a seat, but he was interrupted by warning claxons.

A sortie.

Yet he didn't care, and even as the girl started moving towards the door he spoke up.

"Don't bother. The others will handle it. I'll take responsibility for your failure to heed the sortie order, so stay." The purple haired man felt no anxiety, no worry.

Even if he didn't use it to its full extent, he still had the power of foresight, of prophecy. And it was not telling him of imminent danger.

So he took a bit of a gamble. He detained the young girl.

Hesitantly Weiss took a seat opposite the Major.

"Well then. What did you want to ask?" She schooled her features as she observed him.

Pressing a few buttons, he disabled the claxon in the room. It would be difficult to hold a proper conversation like this, and he had full confidence the pilots of the ATX-team and Octo-squad could deal with their situation.

"I'd like to know about your friend, Ruby Rose, for starters." He leaned forward slightly.

"What would you like to know?" The icy girl asked coldly.

"Well, you see, your friend, no matter how I tried, I could find nothing about her. It was like she never existed. And yet, it is hard for me to deny her existence after our encounters with her." He studied her carefully with his one revealed eye.

She seemed slightly conflicted, and her response took quite some time, and during several moments he could have sworn her eyes shifted. Sometimes they were those he had gotten used to, the sharper, with something slightly inhuman about them, enough that he had questioned her humanity, although a quick check with the infirmary revealed that she was, as a matter of fact, human.

Or at least human enough.

And sometimes her eyes seemed to suddenly soften, turning into more normal eyes.

It was during this that he realised why he felt that the eyes she had most of the time were odd. It was the fact that there was a ring between the pupil and the iris.

But that alone shouldn't have been that weird when he thought about it further.

Maybe it was just that they were far too cold, far too harsh?

Or maybe he was just going off far too far on a tangent?

…

Probably. He had been looking too hard for something wrong, and as one so often did, made something more than it actually was.

He finally decided to end the long silence, seeing as it seemed she wouldn't do it herself.

"There was something I found." The white-haired girl looked at him in surprise, eyes wide… and soft. "In the records of the EOTI there was something. A medical record for one 'Ruby Rose'…"

Weiss Schnee looked away with a complicated expression.

"At the same time, you were hospitalised at the Ri Tech Mother base in Antarctica. How did you come to be there?" He pressed harder, playing more cards while she was off balance.

She might have some skill in business meetings and high-level social interaction… But she was still inexperienced in matters such as these.

He pushed forward two pictures of girls the same age as the one before him, one with golden blonde hair and the other raven-haired.

"And do you, perchance, know Yang Xiao Long and Blake Belladonna?" Finally, a gamble. If there was a connection, she should react… If not, the sudden question would allow her to recover.

Her eyes widened as she saw the pictures, a clear indication of surprise. She hadn't been expecting those names, but they were most certainly familiar to her.

She shook her head slowly with a wry smile.

"Yes. They are… my friends…" There was something nostalgic in her voice. "I haven't seen them for some time though. Where are they now?" The girl asked.

"They are both serving on the Hagane, although I can't speak for their exact current task or position." He provided.

"I see." There was definitively a hint of relief in the surprisingly tender voice that came out of the normally icy girl's mouth.

To Gilliam, this indicated they were close friends… maybe even comrades, and that their parting hadn't been of their own doing.

Had they been forced apart at some point?

"And these two are also acquainted with Ruby Rose?" He asked cautiously.

Weiss seemed to ponder something for a while, before another wry smile adorned her features and a sigh escaped her lips.

"Yeah… Yang is actually Ruby's sister..." Gilliam raised an eyebrow at this statement, but before he could comment on the different names she spoke up again. "Well, to be precise they're half-sisters, sharing a father, but even so their relationship is probably even better than most full siblings." A slight grimace snuck its way onto the girls face.

Personal experience?

"Are the four of you…"He paused slightly looking for words, but, in lack of any better term, settled for the straightforward way of putting it. "Of this world?"

There was a surprising lack of shock on her face.

"I thought you were going to ask that." She sighed resignedly. "No. No, we are not. I don't know where our home is in relation to Earth, but we are not Aerogaters." There was an odd pause.

"At least I don't think so…" She whispered, and it was only barely, thanks to the relative silence of the room, that he could hear it.

"How did you reach here?" There were several reasons for him to ask this.

One was that he wanted to know their method of coming here.

Another was that it might reveal their affiliation, she said they weren't part of the Aerogaters, but that still left the possibility they were Guests, as well as a myriad other forces.

The third was that he feared they were not of this dimension, and worse, that they had come here through System-XN, the crystallisation of his past sins…

Of course, there was no real guarantee that she would tell the truth, but it seemed that the moment he figured out they were not of this world, and that they were connected, Weiss decided to tell him the truth, or at least parts of it.

"I… cannot say for certain… We were… taken from our home, and thrown through some sort of gate…"Suddenly for a few moments the girl seemed to blank out, and in this state she said: "A Crossgate."

"A Crossgate?" The dimension-travelling sinner asked, unfamiliar with the term.

This seemed to snap the girl out of her reverie, looking slightly disoriented.

"I… don't actually know… I think it connects two distant places…" She shook her head. "I have no idea. I don't even know where I got the term from… although… the gate does have a slight cross like appearance…"

"Then..." He was at a loss for words. On one hand it seemed like she knew **something**, but on the other it didn't seem like she knew anything useful.

There was only one thing he could be certain about. What had brought them to this world… this **universe**, was not System-XN, as it didn't open gates. Especially not cross shaped ones.

So he didn't press the issue.

Instead…

"How about you tell me about your home?" He instead asked.

_**-Break—**_

Memories of the Void…

This was probably the most divergent he had ever seen this become, and he had seen many possibilities, some of which he would have preferred he could just forget.

It was odd, and he might find the need to interfere further. But until he actually became able to enter he would be unable to do anything.

And this world's Keisar Ephes was nowhere to be found, although that was probably to be expected, he had been well hidden the first time as well…

There is simply no telling where he might be this time, since that time **he** revealed himself first.

Still…

Why does that girl have Memories of the Void? From whom did they come?

He had never seen her before, so where…?

There was much more going on here than he had expected.

Something was messing with the timeline.

Luckily it was only these four girls, and it seemed to him like they had some connection to this timeline…

But what…?

And where did they come from?

* * *

**Author's notes: This was took _far_ longer than it should have, and for that, I apologize. Did I do a good job? Or did I screw up really hard? Please do tell, since it's one of the great worries I have to deal with.**

**By the way, last chapter I asked a question on what power you thought I have given Ruby, and while some had interesting ideas, there were also those who suggested something from JoJo, which, for everyone's information, I have not watched. As for the guy who suggested Prana... Well... Technically she does have Prana. Just like Kyousuke has it, and Ryusei has it, and literally every living being has it. I'll be nice and say one thing about it. It's from the Originals side of the SRW multi-verse.**

**I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	24. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

Weiss had been surprised to find the Major so… accepting… of her, and her teammates', situation. It was… odd, really, like he was familiar with travel between worlds… and how different one world could be from another.

While it hadn't seemed like he believed her completely, he hadn't completely rejected her explanation either.

So the question was… who was he exactly?

A former member of the Aggressors, like Major Sänger and Elzam… an intelligence officer…

There was an air of mystery surrounding him too…

Like… why did he keep his left eye covered all the time?

At first she had assumed it was just his style, or that he had lost the eye at some point, but during their conversation she had felt like it was more forced…

Like he was hiding it.

"Weiss. There you are." A voice broke her out of her reverie.

Bringing her attention to her front, she found Kyousuke and Excellen. The one who had spoken up was the ever stoic Kyousuke, while Excellen had a more… curious… look to her, even as her smile spoke of mischief.

"To be held up by the Major like that… Could it have been…? This and that?" The excitable woman asked with a glint in her eyes.

"What kind of person do you take the Major for?" The heiress responded irritably. "He just wanted to ask me some questions!" She almost shrieked at the orange-haired woman.

"Is there something I should be aware of?" The stoic man asked, not Weiss, but someone behind her, his eyes narrowing just a fraction.

"No need to worry. There were just some uncertainties in need of clarification, and I received a satisfactory answer." A cool voice responded from behind her as the Major in question appeared next to her. "And Private, she's too young. It would be immoral of a person of my age and position."

There was a slight smirk on the Intelligence Officers lips, but otherwise there was no real change to his cool demeanour. Yet it was obvious he was messing with them.

"Oh my, Major! I-"Excellen started, but was interrupted as the purple-haired man spoke up again.

"Lieutenant, I was about to go ask someone about the earlier sortie, would you like to fill us in?" He completely disregarded what the audacious woman was about to say and turned to Kyousuke.

"Yes." The man came to attention and filled them in on what they had missed. "In short, Siebel Mistrel of the UCC launched an attack in an attempt to retake Columna. He also attempted to crash a transport vessel filled with gas into the station itself, but it was shot down before it could reach its goal and the attack was also repelled."

"What!" Weiss cried out. "He tried to gas a space station, with non-combatants and even a number of civilians on-board?! Please tell me you gave him what he deserved."

"Unfortunately Siebel escaped, although we did damage his vessel." The stoic man said with an unusually clear hint of regret in his voice.

"I see. Thank you Lieutenant." In contrast Gilliam took the news in stride, and moved on.

_**-Break—**_

"Still, that showdown between Masaki and Ruby? That was… something else, wasn't it?" Yang said as they walked down the hallway.

It had been maybe a day or so since the incident in question.

"I'm inclined to agree. It was almost surreal, both of them showcasing that their machines surpass the limits of Earth's technology." Blake answered.

"Yeah! A Real-Robot fight for the centuries!" Ryusei exclaimed loudly and suddenly from beside them. "Although… It was kind of Super-Robot like, wasn't it?" He then seemed to ponder as he lowered his voice to normal levels. "Fluttering rose-petals, incredible speeds and the Cybuster transforming and enveloping itself in a Phoenix… It was like a scene straight out of an Anime."

The two girls looked at him like he had gone crazy, with slightly uncertain looks adorning both of their faces.

"Ryusei… We're talking about reality here, something serious." The blonde said, uncharacteristically serious, both in expression and demeanour.

"Hmm? Right, Ruby's your sister, isn't she? Sorry, I understand that this is a serious matter but…" The otaku set his face into a serious expression.

"Super-Robots are a man's dream! I can't help it!" He then suddenly shouted, with a fiery look in his eyes.

The two girls were once again left dumbfounded by the boy.

This lasted for a number of seconds before finally Yang snorted and started laughing. At first Blake simply started staring at her friend instead, but soon enough found herself joining in.

This caused Ryusei's enthusiasm to sputter out, leaving him confused as to what was so funny.

It was in this moment that someone crashed into him.

While the boy managed to remain standing, the person who had crashed into him, a young girl in a frilly, purple-dress, with a white bodice and a dark coloured skirt. Her wavy light-purple hair was set with a white ribbon, and her eyes were a clear cerulean blue. Covering her legs were pink stockings and a pair of white boots.

All in all, what had appeared before them was a being on par with Ruby in the cuteness department.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't see you." Ryusei said as he helped her up, seemingly unperturbed by her adorable visage.

That was, until she turned a pair of clearly distressed eyes upon him, causing him to flinch as she ran off without explanation.

"What… was that?" Queried a thoroughly confused Yang. "Was there such a cute girl on the ship?"

"I don't know…" The equally bewildered Japanese boy answered. "What about you Blake?"

"I'm not sure but… could that have been…?" The raven-haired girl said uncertainly.

Unfortunately her musing were never finished, as the warning claxons were triggered.

"Really?! Now of all times?!" The buxom gal exclaimed.

"Let's hurry." The interrupted Blake interjected.

The others present nodded, their confusion temporarily ignored for more pressing matters…

_**-Break—**_

Arrayed before them were a number of Armoured Modules, with the apparent commander being a yellow/orange Guarlion.

"Rai, Aya, Giado and Garnet, stay back and defend the Hagane. I, Irm and Ryusei will take point. Blake, Yang and Latune, follow up and prepare to assist." The cool and collected voice of Ingram instructed.

A multitude of affirmatives rang out in response.

But…

"Huh? Latune, is something wrong with your video feed?" Blake asked confusedly upon noticing that it wasn't active.

"No…" Came an unusually shy response.

"Hmm? Then did you turn it off? Why?" Yang queried further. "Or could it be…? Come on! Show us your face!"

There were a few moments of obvious hesitation before she answered.

"Okay…"

As she responded her face popped up, revealing the same girl that had run into Ryusei earlier.

"Wait… Latune?!" A confused outcry came from several sources, but in the background Garnet's nervous laugh could be heard.

"Garnet wanted me to dress cutely and… there was no time to change…" The young girl showed clear embarrassment.

"Oh, but you look really cute! You should dress like that more often!" The blonde gal exclaimed happily.

"Yang." Ingram's cold voice cut through her good mood. "Focus, we are about to enter combat."

This comment brought her reeling, but she quickly enough recovered and became serious.

While Ryusei, Irm and Ingram had gone ahead and engaged first, it didn't take long for the combination of Yang, Blake and Latune to get into combat, as the quick and nimble Lions made their way forward.

The battle was proceeded well, the enemy Lions were familiar from several earlier skirmishes, and the pilots were of lesser quality.

There were only two things that stood out, the enemy commander in his Guarlion and a black coloured Lion.

The commander was obviously more skilled than the rest, but the black Lion was… better than standard yet… inexperienced.

For some reason the Lion went down, having taken only minimal damage, and the girls found themselves facing the commander, Thomas Platt.

This was when something unexpected occurred.

"Oh? I've heard about you from Adler, little missy." The cigar smoking man said, his words directed towards Latune.

"Adler?" Clearly the name meant something to Latune, for she reacted to it, with discomfort.

"That's right! I heard everything about it! You're a failure! A discarded puppet that couldn't handle the Schools regimen!" He exclaimed loudly.

This clearly upset Latune, who gritted her teeth and looked away.

"And now you've been replaced! With the new bunch known as the Boosted Children!" A laugh escaped the man's lips. "Yes! Like the trash you are!"

The harsh words seemed to bite into the young girl, who was left temporarily unable to move.

Aiming for this moment Thomas moved in, prepared to deliver a lethal shot…

"Who cares about crap like that?!" Along with this shout a beam cut through the air, grazing the Guarlion and interrupting the shot.

The source of the shout had been Ryusei.

"She's a person just like the rest of us! Not trash!" The hot-blooded Otaku continued, firing another shot.

This time he was evaded, but before he could recover entirely a Slash Ripper tore into the machine, forcing him to make another quick evade or be cut in half.

"I don't know what you are talking about… but calling another human trash is unforgivable!" Blake shouted at their foe.

"Yeah! You're the worst kind of guy!" Yang added, accompanying her words with an energized PT fist.

Still reeling from the last hit, the blow tore right through the shoulder, completely destroying it and the arm attached to it.

The blonde-haired man clicked his tongue in annoyance.

"Damn brats! You'll regret this!" He said as he turned his machine around and ran, even having taken severe damage still able to leave the battlefield before they could stop him.

"Come back here asshole!" Yang shouted as her Gespenst plummeted back down.

And yet, unsurprisingly, Thomas Platt neither heard nor complied.

_**-Break—**_

"Still, to think that the pilot of that Lion would have been a boy our age… Not to mention the way the Lion went down… I don't like that, at all." Yang said as she and Blake watched the captured Lion pilot be escorted on-board.

"Yeah, it does seem like a trap, doesn't it?" The cat Faunus agreed.

The Lion that had gone down was in suspiciously good shape, and the pilot still alive.

It seemed like the machine had suffered an engine malfunction and broken down but…

Neither of the two Huntresses had found the Lions to be of such poor make, as a matter of fact, they had found equipment malfunction to be extremely rare in this world.

Even so, the Lion was too good a prise to ignore, even if it was a possible trap, and Rob was currently examining it personally.

"Still… to think Latune had such a past…" After the battle had ended they had heard the details from Giado and Garnet. "No wonder she's so quiet."

Put through a harsh program of training, psychological conditioning and even chemical enhancement… The girl had been broken by the trauma, and abandoned by the program's supervisors, one of who now happened to be part of the DC…

"By the way, Yang, have you noticed that Ryusei and Aya seem to have… some form of power?"

"Hmm? Yeah, it does seem that way, doesn't it… But what is it though? I mean… I have an inkling on what it might be or how it works but…" The buxom gal seemed to ponder the issue. "Of course, a few of the answers that pop up in my head makes no sense."

"Like Semblance?"

"Well, amongst others, yeah."

"You know, at first this world seemed… peaceful…" The raven-haired girl's gaze became distant. "And yet… It just seems to get weirder and weirder. What's next? An actual dragon?"

After a short silence the two girls shared a laugh over the prospect.

* * *

**Author's notes: I am so sorry for the delay and if this chapter is crap. I just haven't been able to write lately due to things such as writer's block, lack of motivation and studies. I also can't really guarantee any updates the coming time, so I'll apologise in advance. Blergh.**

**Also, I've been a bit mean with the whole Ruby's new power thing. Someone has as a matter of fact guessed it already, although I won't tell what it is. Also, I can't quite remember the correct sequence of the upcoming events so... And could someone tell me if they immediately modify Ryoto's Lion into the Armourlion or if he uses the normal one for a while.**

**I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	25. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

From what they had been able to gather out of the captured boy, Ryoto Hikawa, Adler Koch of the DC had used the Burning PT game to identify capable individuals with a natural inclination towards piloting mobile weaponry like the PT or AM, and gathered them as the Boosted Children in an attempt to prepare a larger amount of skilled pilots while bypassing the normally long and arduous training process normally needed.

That Ryusei had been scouted by the SRX project through Burning PT as well was something not implicitly stated, but easy enough to figure out, which brought the dilemma of **how** Adler was able to obtain information that only the SRX project should have had access to…

Of course, the part where Ryusei was chosen specifically instead of anyone else was suspicious as well.

Neither Yang nor Blake missed the part where they as well would most likely count into that group, as they had taken nowhere **near **the standard amount of time to get the hang of piloting a PT, something that did make them wonder a number of things.

Of course, Yang was willing to just dismiss it as the effect of the Huntress training and leave it at that, since it would serve them no good to go about considering it for too long.

Even if she did have an idea of where this mysterious aptitude came from…

"Then Ryoto, I would like to ask another question, if you don't mind?" Blake suddenly asked, even as the interrogation session was almost over.

The slightly timid brown-haired boy nodded, a downcast expression still lingering over his features, a remnant of the emotional trauma he probably suffered when he found out a bomb had been installed into his machine, one that had luckily caused no damage thanks to Rob's foresight.

A silent indication of approval was also given by Ingram, although he didn't look too happy about it.

"Do you know a girl by the name of Ruby Rose? Is she also one of Adler's Boosted Children?" The cat-girl asked quietly.

Yang's eyes widened slightly as she realised she hadn't thought of that herself, while the others in the room, a group consisting only of the more serious people aboard the Hagane gained a twinkle of understanding in the eyes.

The boy seemed to take a few moments to think, and after a short moment of silence gained a spark of recognition.

"I've heard of her, but I have only seen her once. I once heard Adler say he wanted her amongst his Boosted Children, but it seems like Commander Bian denied it. There's plenty of rumours, connecting her directly to either the Commander or to the mysterious Professor Shirakawa, but I don't know anything concrete about her. I only really know that she has her own custom machine and a large amount of autonomy as well as that she joined shortly before the Antarctica incident." The youth had an apologetic look as he answered to the best of his ability.

The buxom blonde felt her expression become complicated as she digested the frankly completely insufficient information, while her partner had a slightly disappointed seeming expression.

Seeing this the interrogated youth became a bit distressed, and a small sorry escaped his lips.

"I think that's enough. He needs time to recover, and we have a mission to accomplish." Ingram coldly stated, ending the interrogation there and then.

In response to this Daitetsu hummed gruffly in affirmation, rising from his own seat and starting back towards the bridge.

"Have Mei Long see him to his room." The blue-haired cold-blooded major said to someone outside. "And Belladonna, consult with me before you ask questions during an interrogation."

_**-Break—**_

"But seriously? Putting a bomb inside a kid's Lion to use as a trap, letting him get captured and then blow it up? How much of an asshole can you be?" Yang stated with a huff as she and Blake walked down one of the many corridors of the Hagane.

"I think it's called 'pragmatism'." The raven-haired Faunus girl answered. "It's the go to excuse for any terrible acts in war."

As the fiery gal fumed about the subject Blake spotted Ryusei walking about while making a very difficult face, as if deep in thought.

"Hmm? Ryusei? What's the matter? Something troubling you?" She asked as they caught up to the teen.

He looked up in surprise. "No, it's just… I'm not good enough at flying and… things have been getting tougher. I can't keep up with the more skilled opponents."

"I see. That's certainly something to be worried about." The raven-haired girl stated bemusedly. "Although I never expected you to think about something like that."

"Hey!" The otaku responded indignantly. "I can worry about things as well you know!"

Yang released a small laugh at this reaction. "Why not ask someone with some experience in flying? We have some people who are fighter pilots after all."

"Hmm… That's a good idea. But who?" The test pilot seemed to agree upon the idea, but also seemed to be uncertain who to ask.

A small mischievous grin spread across the blonde's lips. "What about Latune? She's a real genius, and might be able to put together some good data for you." She then suggested, a hint of amusement in her voice.

A hint that caused Blake to flashback to some… interesting hijinks caused by said girl. Of course, she also knew that her partner meant no harm.

"Oh! That's a good idea! Thanks Yang!" Ryusei said excitedly and dashed off.

"Another good deed from this most humble angel of love!" The blonde said happily as she puffed up her chest.

"I think you mean fallen angel." The raven-haired Huntress deadpanned in response.

This caused Yang to burst into laughter.

"Still… I wonder how Weiss is doing." She said softly as her laughter died out.

_**-Break—**_

"Ugh! Can't… How… does she… expect me to… bend this far!" The white haired heiress groaned out as she tried to contort to Radha's expectations…

_**-Break—**_

"These things are like flying cannons! Flying, angry, heavily armoured cannons!" Yang shouted as she dodged the powerful shot from the new model Armoured Module they had found forming a blockade in front of the Hagane's path to Aidoneus.

The new AMs had waited for them on their path, and seemed to be designed for bombardment, with a large cannon on top. As Blake's partner had so eloquently stated, they flew, hit hard, and could take an inordinate amount of punishment. The only saving grace they had was that the machines were clumsier than the other AMs, meaning that they were easier to hit.

On the upside for Blake, she had finally figured out how to make the Hückebein leave afterimages, with which she could confuse enemies aiming at her.

And if there was one thing she was good at using, it was fake images of herself.

That was after all, essentially her Semblance.

"How's Ryusei doing?" She asked, since the otaku had engaged the DC captain and was locked in a dogfight with him last she saw.

"Not fantastically. The enemy captain is pretty good, and Ryu's not that good at flying." Came the unhappy response from Aya, who was doing pretty well for piloting a Gespenst on water against opponents with long range cannons.

"Oh, and he's talking trash. A whole lot of trash. Not just to Ryusei, but to Latune as well. Boasting how he's better than her and not defective and I think you get the picture." Garnet interjected with both anger and worry in her voice.

The Huntress just grunted as she finally managed to bring down one of the enemies with a well-placed Ripper.

Using the opening provided Irm crashed through and completely smashed another before changing into Grungust right on top of the next one, bringing it crashing down as he drove his sword straight through.

With the temporary lull caused by this Blake managed to divert her attention over to Ryusei, who is unable to shake of the pursuing custom painted AM behind him.

She considered trying to help him when suddenly Latune shouted.

"Ryusei! Use this data!" There was a hint of desperation, as if she had just compiled it.

Suddenly the teen was able to pull of an exceptionally fancy manoeuvre that allowed him to shake off his pursuer and instead face him, landing a solid shot that forced his opponent to retreat.

"I… I did it! Thanks Latune! You saved me!" The joyous outcry of the victorious teen was only made all the sweeter since the remaining DC forces retreated as well.

"N-no… it- it was nothing…" The young girl said shyly, clearly blushing.

_**-Break—**_

"Ryoto Hikawa has decided to join us, and with his help we have been able to restore his Lion to working condition." Ingram stated in his usual cold tone, showing no hint of emotion.

"Really?" "Nice." "I see." Were but a few of the reactions that this statement brought.

"Furthermore, Rio Mei Long will join the PT squadron." The major then continued.

"What?! Rio will?" A surprised Ryusei exclaimed.

"What machine will she be using?" Rai asked calmly.

"She will be using Ryusei's Type-TT." Was the answer.

"How come were moving an operator into the PT squadron?" Asked Blake, her eyes narrowing with a creeping suspicion that she didn't voice.

"She has showed aptitude for piloting, and we need whatever fighting strength we can get." The blue-haired major replied.

Yang made to say something, but was interrupted by Irm.

"That's how it is. I'm not too happy about putting one of our operators on the front lines, but we do need the extra firepower." The flirt said unhappily. "Ingram put forth the proposal and the Captain approved. That's all there is to it."

"I swear, there is nothing normal about Major Ingram's recruitment policy. While Ryusei's not a bad pilot, there seems like there are plenty better choices, and now he's moving an operator onto the front?" Yang complained quietly so only Blake could hear. "Not to mention he recruited us despite our background, or in this case lack of it, and even offered to cover for us. It feels like he has an agenda, and I can't for the life of me figure it out."

"While I agree, we don't have much choice other than accepting his oddity, and trying to get past this war so we can meet back up with Ruby and hopefully find Weiss." The raven-haired girl responded.

"Ugh. I hope miss heiress hasn't gotten into some crazy situation." The blonde then said as she looked up into the roof.

_**-Break—**_

This dream again.

Once again the darkness surrounded her, crawling with lost souls.

"Young Heiress of the Simeon clan." That voice echoed once again in the darkness.

"No! Go away!" She clutched her head, covering her ears, trying to block **him **out.

Yet it was futile as his dark laughter boomed throughout the darkness, resounding in her very mind.

"Realise that by denying me, you are denying you own history. Even after all this time, your clan remains mine, and soon, you will once again serve me."

And once again, the dream faded.

"Your destiny cannot be changed."

* * *

**Author's notes: I'm alive! I'm alive! *Gets squished by a giant green man falling on me* I'm really sorry I haven't been able to update sooner and that this chapter is a bit shorter than normal. I've had studies and no motivation and all manners of fun things get in my way. ****Anyway, hopefully I'll be able to get back to writing now. **

**I have realised that Weiss is way ahead on the time-line compared to the others. At least I'm convinced it is so. Maybe I'm wrong. Happened before. I'm still a bit fuzzy about this part of the Ryusei route, and I'm almost certain I've messed up on the order of events by now.**

**It would be most appreciated if you could give me some feedback and I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	26. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

The two machines were but blurs as they raced across the battlefield, clashing repeatedly, sword against scythe, sniper against drones, neither able to score a solid hit as the preternaturally fast machines moved with purpose and practised grace.

Certainly, neither were at max speed, but since neither were able to support it for prolonged periods of time, neither would use it. They were simply distracting each other, keeping the other from interfering with the battle unfolding around them.

While Ruby couldn't speak for her opponent(s?), she herself felt relieved that she didn't need to fight her sister and friend at this moment. Add to this the feeling of exhilaration from fighting with an equal opponent, and part of her was actually kind of exited right now.

But that couldn't keep her from worrying about the well-being of her team-mates, and whenever there was a lull in the duel she found herself looking for them. Of course, they were doing well, while Yang's recklessness didn't quite work perfectly with the mass produced Gespenst she piloted, it did seem like the armouring had been modified and strengthened, so it worked out in the end.

Blake, on the other hand, seemed to have found the perfect fit for herself in the Hückebein, the high mobility and innate ability to create afterimages suiting her perfectly, although the weaponry left a bit to desire really. Still, it was a force to be reckoned with, and Ruby prayed apologetically for the poor pilots that had to contend with her.

And Weiss… well, she was with the Hiryu Kai and its complement of insanely skilled pilots in the form of the ATX-team, not to mention the heiress herself didn't seem too bad as a pilot either. Yeah… she probably didn't need to worry about her partner at all.

But of course, her adversary was not one to ignore for long. While information about the mysterious machine was sparse, what with the only person who seemed to actually know something not telling anyone about it, from what the Huntress had been able to gleam, the Cybuster, as it was called, was a very fast, unreasonably well armoured, for its speed and size, attacking power-house with more firepower and attack strength than what could be reasonably expected from something of its size class.

Yes, she knew the Granzon made all that look cute, but something told Ruby that the Granzon was a total rule-breaker with no regard for convention or **reason**. Besides, the mysterious man that was both involved in its development and was its pilot really didn't seem like he was playing it fair in any way, shape or form, although he also almost never seemed to take anything seriously.

Actually… this lull was getting a bit long…

"Hey, you! You're Ruby, right?" Masaki suddenly shouted, trying to contact her.

She was a bit caught off guard by this, and as such her reply wasn't the most well formulated.

"Yes…"

"Why are you fighting against your own sister?!" The guy sounded slightly pissed off.

"That's…" The young Huntress wasn't sure how to answer this. "I didn't know my sister was with the EFA... and Professor- no, Commander Bian's cause… I believe in it. His conviction, he means well!"

"Hmm… I see. You don't sound like you can be convinced otherwise." There was some resignation in the youth's voice. "At least you're not working for Shu."

"What's your grudge against Professor Shirakawa? You really don't seem to like him at all."

While Ruby couldn't see the boy, she could still hear his displeasure.

"He killed my father and destroyed my new home. He betrayed my trust, and hurt not only me, but also my sister and my friends." There was a surprising amount of fire in Masaki's voice, and it caught her slightly off guard. "That, and I can't stand his smug, overly polite face."

And then it all went out the window with those last few words, lessening slightly the severity of the reasoning.

Slightly being the keyword here.

The red-headed team-leader had not expected that her alleged discoverer had performed such acts, although she guessed she could see him do it all things considered.

It's just that… sometimes… she could sense kindness in the man.

Seems like its time…

As if on que her reinforcements arrived, perfectly surrounding the Hagane.

The group in question was led by Thomas Platt, who had also come up with the plan itself.

Ruby didn't like the man. He was sleazy, always chomping a cigar and had tried to use one of his men, a boy not much older than her team-mates, as a suicide-bomber, without asking the boy's consent.

Why was it that most of her allies were such… dastards...? No, that's not quite right… ehm… unsavoury…? That'll work. Such unsavoury individuals. Hell, she'd almost rather trust Prof Shirakawa than most of the people in the DC… At least Elzam and Sänger were trustworthy guys, even if the latter was a turncoat.

Oh well, at least this plan was decent enough.

"What?!" Masaki shouted, surprised by the sudden turn of events.

"Well, I was stalling." The red-haired girl said as she moved to better place herself between the Cybuster and the Hagane.

Suddenly without warning the Hagane launched a new unit, one she had heard about, but never seen.

The R-1, one of the Project-SRX prototypes.

But even as it touched the ground it was clear that it wasn't functional yet, as it remained unmoving.

'_They sent out an unfinished PT? Even if backed into a corner that's kind of…'_ Ruby thought, perplexed by this sudden turn of events.

"You sent out an unfinished machine? What are you, stupid?" Thomas laughed. "Well, I guess I'll just take it then." The yellow coloured Guarlion moved in towards the immobile PT.

Even as Ruby watched this, she got a nagging feeling that she couldn't quite place, like…

Just as Thomas' Guarlion reached the PT it suddenly sprung to life.

Yet it wasn't that the machine suddenly actually moved that truly staggered Ruby. It was the sudden burst of will that washed over her before gathering around the machine like a veil.

She could practically hear the boy's shout as his will gathered, forming in such density around the fist of the PT that it became visible as a green energy.

"T-Link Knuckle!"

The fist collided into the surprised commander's Guarlion, causing extensive damage as it tore into the armour, blowing the machine away as the energy gathered around the knuckle burst outward.

What was that? She had felt something similar before but… that power couldn't do that… right? And for the first time in a long time did Ruby feel that she wished her mother was around so she could ask her to explain some things…

_**-Break—**_

After the spectacular activation of the R-1 the tide had swiftly turned. With Thomas Platt's Guarlion heavily damaged already and Ruby seemingly very distracted it did not take long at all to force the remaining DC forces away.

Unfortunately Ruby decided to retreat, even going so far as to activate her Semblance to get away. And the asshole Thomas also somehow got away, running like a sissy when he realised that the suddenly fully working R-1 was far too much for him.

The main problem Yang had was the power the machine had displayed. A defensive field that deflected weak enemy attacks and some kind of… well… it went boom? Kinda?

"So Aya, what exactly was that?" The busty blonde asked.

"What do you mean?" The green-haired pilot said, trying to play dumb.

"What the R-1 did earlier, what was that?" She pressed.

"That, Yang, was the power of the T-Link system utilised by the SRX-project." The cold and collected voice of Ingram Prisken said behind her.

Yang almost jumped in surprise as she turned around to face the man.

"Wow, and here I asked Aya because I didn't think I would get anything out of **you**, Major." She said.

"I don't see the reason to keep something like that hidden to someone who works so closely with the Project." The blue-haired man responded.

"And I'm guessing you need a… special aptitude to be able to use the system?" The fiery Huntress probed cautiously.

"Very good Yang. Indeed, a special trait is needed to use it. That is what you and Blake were tested for." He answered with an amused smirk on his face.

"And we didn't have it." She stated.

"Correct."

"So… I guess everyone in the SRX-team has it?" Yang turned to Aya.

"No, Rai doesn't have it. He was chosen for his excellent talents." The young woman answered.

"Oh, I see. Although… if the main purpose of the SRX-Project is to develop PTs using EOT and the T-Link system then it doesn't exactly make a lot of sense for there to be someone in the team of test-pilots that can't use the system." The blonde said contemplatively.

"Well… That's… classified." The team-captain answered.

"Of course. It always is." Yang answered in jest.

Even so, it didn't keep an unhappy look from crossing Aya's features for a short moment.

_**-Break—**_

"So, what's our next move?" Asked Katina impatiently.

The Hiryu Kai's next move now that they had retaken Columna was still undecided. They had received no orders, but they did receive news that the UCC fleet had moved into position to drop troops into Geneva, where the headquarters of the EFA was.

"I don't know…" Lefina answered dejectedly, clearly torn by uncertainty.

"I might have an idea…" Kyousuke spoke up.

All heads present turned towards the team-leader.

"Well, we could launch an attack on Elpis." The stoic man said.

'_Elpis… that sounds… familiar…'_ Will wondered.

'_It's the capital of the Colonies.'_ Eis answered, mentally puffing her chest out in pride. _'Wait…'_

…

'_EH!'_ Finally they both processed exactly what Kyousuke had proposed.

Elpis was also home to the Branstein family and the headquarters of the UCC.

An attack straight into the heart of the enemy.

The Captain looked equally shocked, but the others seemed to actually be considering it. Or, in the case of Katina, already completely in for it.

"Hoho… a bold proposal Lieutenant. Certainly, with the fleet away, the guard at Elpis would be weakened. A quick lightning assault could break through the defenders before reinforcements can arrive." Sean assessed, the XO clearly intrigued by the idea.

"Hmm… I agree. This could work. It will still be risky, but we can most certainly pull it off." Gilliam agreed.

Hearing these remarks, Lefina calmed down, realising that it was indeed a viable move. Crazy, but viable. They're practically behind enemy lines already anyway.

Weiss paled as she realised the proposal was about to be accepted. Why did she have to be placed with the most reckless members of the entire EFA?

"Yes, I see. If we…" The youthful Captain began drawing up plans.

But the young heiress(es?) simply blanked out as she still had yet to completely recover from the shock…

_**-Break—**_

"The end draws near. The Hagane is approaching this Aidoneus Island even as we prepare our assault on Geneva." Bian Zoldark calmly stated, his voice betraying no sign of nervousness.

"It is finally time. We will finally see who survives this violent struggle and who does not." Shu Shirakawa responded, showing neither joy nor worry.

"All is proceeding according to plan." The strong voice of Maier V. Branstein added.

"We all know our roles, and will fulfil them." Elzam V. Branstein said, sagely nodding his head.

"At the end of the violent struggle, no matter the victor, the Earth will be stronger." Sänger Zonvolt declared.

All present nodded in agreement. All except one, who instead looked quite sad.

"So, it's come to this." Ruby Rose said softly.

After all, she knew. She knew that both Bian and Maier were going into this fully knowing that they might die. No, if the Hagane and Hiryu Kai wins, then they **will** die.

It all came down to the next few battles.

* * *

**Author's notes: And done. I wanted to get this out yesterday, but... I got in the way. Anyway... I'm not completely sure about this chapter, it seems fine but... I don't know. I'm decently sure this is at the very least the basic gist of the R-1's proper introduction, with a small bit of modification of course. I also realised that I couldn't for the life of me remember the order of events, and simply just now said... F* it, I'm just going for the end now. End of the DC war that is, not the end of the story.**

**I hope you enjoy and that you have a nice day.**


	27. Chapter 27

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

Weiss sat huddled in the cockpit of her Gespenst as the Hiryu Kai hurtled through UCC controlled territory, by now presumably straight up crashing past the defensive lines heading straight towards Elpis, the UCC capital.

And she was really worried. Sure, she had partaken in her fair share of hideously reckless plans before, but that was with her team, ultimately a group of not-so-mature teenagers that didn't always know better.

But the people she was with right now was military! They should really know better! Right?

She slumped her head in exhaustion. Of course they did. The problem of course being Kyousuke's liking of betting on long odds. And the general insanity that seemed to infest the military personnel in this world.

"So Snow angel? Nervous? Want big-sis here to comfort you?" A familiar, almost childlike voice, came to her through the com-system.

Normally when someone calls her 'Snow angel' it's a guy hitting on her, but in this mad place it was a woman. Whatever or not said person was hitting on her was a question the heiress had no inclination toward finding the answer for, although since it seemed the mad-woman would literally hit on anyone as long as they had some good-looks…

"No. I don't need your 'comfort'. AND STOP CALLING ME SNOW ANGEL!" She snapped slightly, nerves fraying slightly by the somewhat suicidal seeming attack they were pulling.

"Oops. Looks like she snapped…" Excellen said, no hint of remorse in her voice.

"I don't think it's a good idea to tease her like that. She seems like she's about to have a break-down." Bullet chimed in helpfully, trying to reign in the madness.

"But Bullet… I'm trying to make her relax…" The supposedly grown woman said with a pout.

But before either of them could make a retort Kyousuke spoke up.

"Excellen, while your concern is not bad, it seems to me your advances are not well received."

"Eh-? Wait, Kyou-! That's not-!" Excellen stammered, unable to form a complete sentence all the way till she was interrupted by the Lieutenant.

"It's time. Prepare for sortie, we'll need all the swiftness we can get. Enemy reinforcements will be on our heels." He stated calmly, although a small smirk had formed on his lips.

Eis took a deep breath even as she let Will take over.

Will was somehow handling the situation far better, even though she was in general more timid and insecure.

'_Don't worry… this is a good… plan…'_ Her other self provided with a small smile.

'_I know that. It's just… It's a crazy, and risky plan, and you know it!' _Eis responded indignantly.

'_Do we… really have the… right to say that…?'_ Will asked.

There was no response to this statement.

_**-Break—**_

"I'd say we have about 20 minutes before their reinforcements arrive. Everyone! Make sure to break through the enemy lines and reach Elpis before then!" Lefina proclaimed to each and every one of them.

Their acknowledgements became a chorus as they started their advance, the Alteisen and Weißritter forming the vanguard as they sped ahead, while the Giganscudo and Hiryu made up the rear guard, seeing as they were the slowest members of their force.

Well, in combat anyways. The Hiryu Kai was capable of some truly fearsome speeds when Overboosting after all. As their enemies had just experienced first-hand.

Following up the vanguard was Weiss and Bullet, while Katina charged on her own with Russel desperately trying to keep up, while Gilliam, Radha and Viletta Vadim, a person that had joined after they went to the moon with the R-Gun, a powerful long-range bombardment PT that could change into a giant gun… yes, a gun, shored up their middle line, probably prepared to lend their aid where it looked most useful.

Viletta was serious and professional, but with a cordial enough personality when it came down to it, although Weiss just couldn't shake this feeling that she reminded her of Alteur, like they were related or something.

As expected Katina ran into trouble almost immediately when she was intercepted by a new type of Armoured Module that seemed more focused on armour and long-range bombardment than the typical AM's agility and speed.

But, even as one charge was halted by these, the other tore through them quite well, proving that focusing on armour against the Alteisen wasn't all that bright of an idea.

"Bullet! You go assist Lieutenant Katina! I'll follow up on Kyousuke and Excellen!" She barked out to the other.

He gave her a look that said; 'Really?', but simply nodded and complied, peeling off to assist their stalled allies.

The Hückebein Mk II was more suited towards helping out over there anyway, as adding her Mass-production Gespenst wouldn't help much. Instead she moved ahead, finally starting to catch up to the vanguard as it slowed down in order to take on the Peregrine class ships that encircled their target.

Even as she opened fire upon the Lions that tried to surround the assault duo she noted that the enemy forces were thinning out.

As they had predicted the defences had become thin after the main bulk of the fleet left, taking most of the UCC forces with them.

As she closed in on one of the Peregrines a powerful blast tore into the ship, tearing straight through the hull with an expert shot that disabled its systems.

She took a few moments to note the R-Gun unfolding before she continued on, evading both cannon fire and missiles as she moved on towards the target zone, only slowing to put an energized punch into a Guarlion trying to block her way.

It seemed to her the more she got used to this, the less of a threat even these highly potent machines seemed, at least in the hands of an ordinary soldier.

'_Let's not get too carried away. Remember the tournament?'_

'_I know… I know…'_

While the remaining UCC forces tried to somehow close the opening, the sudden interjection of the Giganscudo into it made that unfeasible, even as the Hiryu barrelled in.

In the meanwhile Katina and Russel, who had with the aid of Bullet made it through the point they charged into, came storming into the enemy encirclement from the flank, tearing straight through it and even sinking another Peregrine as they caught them off guard while their focus lay on the enemies in their midst.

"Alright! Everyone, head for Elpis!" Lefina ordered, her dainty voice somehow carrying with authority.

Stopping only to make sure the Giganscudo wouldn't get stuck fighting the remaining defenders Will hurried after the others as they headed for Elpis…

_**-Break—**_

Having broken through the defensive lines around Elpis, they were now faced with the final line, a still decently sized UCC force led by none other than the dastard Siebel himself. The force was deployed facing the attacking Hiryu Kai and its squads, preventing them from entering Elpis by making sure they would be able to shot anyone who tried.

"You! How did you make it this far! All units, destroy them!" The dastardly UCC commander shouted.

The distance between the two forces wasn't all that great, and with no time to dawdle they quickly clashed.

Will weaved her Gespenst between enemy fire, closing in on a Lion. The poor sod was unable to land a solid hit with his railgun, and by the time he realised it wasn't working he could do little else then draw his blade before she sliced off his arm with a slash from her beam sword and the followed up with a stab straight through, activating the escape pod and disabling the machine.

The situation unfolded rapidly around her, the UCC forces quickly dropping as the frankly average soldiers followed the not so brilliant command of Siebel straight into their far more capable opponents.

She watched as a group of Lions were obliterated under a rain of heavy titanium bearings from the Alteisen's Claymore launchers. She barely had time to react before a Guarlion was crushed between the shields of the Giganscudo.

She didn't even bat an eye as she spun around, planting her sword in the centre of a Guarlion that tried to get the drop on her.

Before long, only Siebel's Peregrine remained.

Certainly, the crew of the ship was skilled, as their accuracy was nothing to scoff at, and she even found herself taking an inordinate amount of damage as a surprisingly well aimed cannon shot vaporised her Gespenst right arm and leg.

But in exchange the Peregrine was torn into by everything they had, and in but a short amount of time it was rendered inoperable, although it had miraculously avoided fatal damage.

It was while Siebel was having a monolog about the unfairness of things (she wasn't really listening) that she noticed it.

And it was not soon after that that the Hiryu Kai picked it up as well, and soon an old friend had appeared before them.

The Grungust Type-0.

Sänger Zonvolt.

"Impressive, Hiryu. To think that you would break through the remaining defenders of Elpis." The warrior's powerful voice boomed out.

""Boss!"" Both Bullet and Excellen exclaimed.

"Sänger." Kyousuke stated calmly at the same time.

"Sänger! Help me! Drive them away!" Siebel pleaded desperately to the newcomer.

But…

"I have no aid to give an incompetent coward like yourself, Siebel!" Sänger shouted in response. "Nor am I here to fight."

At this response Siebel paled visibly, and with a shout of: "Damn you Sänger Zonvolt!" the transmission was cut, as the Peregrine failed catastrophically.

"If you're not here to fight, then why are you here Major?" Lefina asked cautiously.

"To deliver a message. If you wish to end this war, you must face the Macht, Commander Maier's flagship." The man answered imperiously.

"I see." Kyousuke responded. "And I assume you will be waiting for us?"

"Of course."

"You will not stand down, even with Elpis fallen?" Lefina queried.

"The main fleet will not, not as long as Maier lives."

A pained expression came to the young Captain's features.

"Then we will be there." She stated grimly.

While Eis wanted to disagree, she also understood that there was no other way, that if they were to be able win this conflict, they would need to confront the Macht, and soon, before Geneva could fall.

"Good! Come, prove that you are worthy of being Humanity's sword!" The sudden outcry was startling, and before anyone could question the major about it he had already left.

With Sänger leaving, they turned their attention towards Elpis, only to be met by a surprising message.

"Huh? They surrender?" Lefina said confusedly at an unheard message.

_**-Break—**_

"So Elpis has fallen." A young girl clad in red said.

"Yes, the colonies are honouring Maier's orders and are surrendering." A man with long blonde hair responded.

"Then the Hiryu…?" The gruff voice of another asked.

"Indeed, they are headed for my flagship." A deep masculine voice said, distorted slightly by the speakers it came through.

"And the Hagane draws ever closer." A regal man with purple hair added, chuckling darkly.

"You need not stay till the end. I would not begrudge you if you were to leave now." The gruff voice said softly as its owner turned towards the girl.

But she only shook her head with a sad smile. "No, I will see this to its end, to honour your conviction and will." She answered, determination set in her eyes.

"So you will see this sinful man's conviction through till the end. I am honoured by your kindness. Just be sure not to let this fool's end yours as well."

"So you really do think they'll win… I'm a bit surprised really. That you basically say that you will die…" The young girl trailed off, sadness in her voice.

"I have no intention of going down without a fight, and they have to reach me first. I am prepared, my will is set, my determination firm."

At these words the other men present nodded grimly. The time had come.

* * *

**Author's notes: Okay. Once again I feel uncertain whatever it was good or not. Hopefully I can at least make the final battles good, but we'll see. I would be most happy for feedback, so don't hold back and tell me what I did wrong (if I did something wrong, that is).**

***sigh* Why did I choose to start the story at the beginning?**

**I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	28. Chapter 28

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

"The assault on Aidoneus will be our most dangerous operation to date." Ingram explained coolly, no indication of the gravity of the coming battle showing on his face. "The island is well-defended, with several gun-emplacements making an aerial approach impossible for the Hagane. As such, the ship will remain submerged until it reaches this bay-"The blue-haired man indicated the location on a map over the island. "where it will surface to fire its Tronium Buster Cannon directly into the DC Headquarters, destroying it."

Blake frowned as she heard this, and made to rise, planning to voice something, but before she could start the motion or open her mouth a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

The raven-haired girl sent a sharp questioning look towards her partner, who was the one responsible.

Yang simply shook her head. "She'll be fine." She mouthed.

There was no need to define 'she', nor was there any need for the two to communicate why she would be fine. They both knew, and they both worried.

"Any questions?" The major asked, his gaze unexpectedly seeming to linger on the two Huntresses as a small smirk formed on his lips…

_**-Break—**_

They moved into formation with a speed born out of mad determination. There was no real time, they were already near the shores of Aidoneus, and the defensive gun batteries were already targeting them.

Behind that a screen of DC units spread out in great number, their core being the black and green Last Battalion's Guarlions, the finest soldiers the DC could muster, in custom Guarlions.

Anchoring the formation was the third ship of the Space Noah-class, the Kurogane, equipped with a massive drill it floated lazily near the main headquarters, directly in front of the bay.

There were a few familiar units around. Thomas Platt's Guarlion was hanging back further away, Tenzan Nakajima, an asshole who treated the war like a game was present with his Barrelion…

But, even with this seeming last line of defence, there were a few notable absences. Ruby's Guarlion, and the Granzon, both machines the Hagane's pilots knew well were powerful fighting-forces, were nowhere to be seen.

Hell, the Granzon alone, if fighting seriously, should have been able to win this war.

But even in this hectic situation the eye was drawn towards the massive structure on the western shore, containing the still relatively intact Meteor 3.

Blake shook her head. Focus! This is the last battle, and she could be sure the DC would throw all they have at them.

She watched as the R-wing, Wildraubiter, Grungust and Cybuster charged ahead, the flight enabled by their respective jet-modes, or, in the Cybuster's case, just being able to fly anyway, allowing them to move ahead easily.

Behind them she, Yang, Rai and Ingram followed, their machines either capable of moving well over water or equipped with auxiliary equipment that enabled it, they made up the core force that would force the breach caused by the vanguard.

Finally, making sure the Hagane remained defended was Aya, Giado, Garnet and Ryoto. They would provide support as necessary, but mostly they would just provide defence for the Hagane.

As the vanguard clashed with the Last Battalion it became clear that it would stalemate, and as such Ingram made the judgement that it would be better if they split up and circled around, taking out any emplacements and squadrons that got in the way.

Yang and Blake went together while Rai supported Ingram. Blake took the lead slightly, drawing the attention towards her, allowing Yang to proceed with less trouble.

It helped that with the majority of the Last Battalion being locked up in a giant melee with the vanguard, most pilots attacking them were of… lesser skill, and therefore were more focused on the fact that the Hückebein was unique, making the rather major mistake of dismissing the Gespenst as inferior, and a lesser threat, when, in actuality, the Gespenst actually hit harder.

No pun intended.

Their charge lead them straight into a group attempting to flank the melee, and they unleashed their weaponry, Blake leading with a well-aimed salvo from her Boosted Rifle, and Yang firing her machine gun.

Interestingly enough the Lions stayed back, laying into the two with their railguns.

This was a good idea against the Gespenst, but not the Hückebein. So while the cat-Faunus wove around the enemy fire, returning as best she could, distracting them and shooting down a few, her partner circled slightly around as she approached, avoiding to shoot so as to not draw any attention.

By the time the Lion squadron realised she was coming she was three-quarters of the way, they had lost near half their number, and their original target was closing in fast as well.

Activating its boosters the yellow-coated Gespenst crossed the last of the distance in a flash, leaving most of the enemy fire to miss wildly, while the few shots that did hit failed to faze its armour.

And the first to have noticed the manoeuvre learned first-hand how hard a Gespenst hit, as an energized fist tore through its armour completely, the Gespenst barrelling straight through its victim.

His panicked comrades started withdrawing from the unexpected attacker, only to find themselves beset by Blake's Hückebein, who first ripped one opponent apart with a Ripper and then clove one in twain with its sword.

The remote weapon continued onward, and tore through another before it was destroyed by Gatling fire, but by then Yang had smashed apart another Lion with the Jet Magnum and then blasted two others with the Shotgun.

By the time the last one realised his loneliness two plasma swords were already shearing through the armour, bisecting the poor fool.

On the other end of the melee Rai and Ingram had destroyed their opposition, the combined might of two of their most skilled pilots proving overwhelming for the DC pilots trying to stop them.

And the melee itself was starting to dissolve, only a few Last Battalion units remained, while their vanguard remained reasonably intact, the Grungust having suffered the most hits, but remaining fully functional thanks to its strong armour and bulk.

The R-1 had taken more damage, but remained fine, Ryusei's skill not quite being enough to avoid damage, even with the T-Link system's support and inexplicable barrier. Likewise the Cybuster was only slightly damaged, it's strong combination of armour and agility meaning that it got out of the fight quite well.

Perhaps unsurprisingly the least damaged of the group turned out to be the Wildraubiter, the agile mech proving more than capable of running circles around even the skilled Last Battalion in the hands of Latune. All it had suffered was minor scratches from a few close calls.

In response to this Tenzan had moved up, targeting the R-1, which in return engaged, locking the two into an aerial dogfight, but it was quickly broken when Latune and Irm intervened, eliciting some disgruntlement from the Otaku, though he quickly conceded that this was war, and there was no place for fair one on ones.

Simultaneously Masaki, Rai, Ingram, Blake and Yang engaged the Kurogane, aiming to cripple it before the Hagane reached its designated point.

The Cybuster rushed forward, enveloping itself in that weird fire-bird that it summoned. The attack was perfect and the aim spot on…

So imagine her surprise when the Kurogane evaded it.

Luckily Masaki was able to avoid the return fire, but it was spot on, and the girls quickly came to regret getting close to the ship.

Fortunately neither Ingram nor Rai were daunted by this, and they expertly avoided fire as they lay into the vessel, the Schutzwald's Beam Cannons doing their best to harm its cannons while the Wildschwein pinpointed as many weak-points as possible.

And just as it looked as if the Kurogane was slowing down, the Hagane reached its target point, surfaced, and was prepared to fire in but a few seconds…

The Kurogane suddenly regained speed, heading straight for the Hagane from the front.

The Hagane fired just as the two clashed, the shot going slightly off course as it crashed into the Kurogane's energy field and missing the main HQ, although the Kurogane suffered extensive damage in return.

Unfortunately the Hagane suffered even more, the massive drill smashing into the ship and disabling the Buster Cannon, as well as causing major damage to the side of the ship.

The biggest surprise came next. Instead of coming about for another attack on the Hagane, the Kurogane kept going, heading away from the island.

"Wait, Elzam! Where are you going?!" Adler exclaimed in outrage.

"I have fulfilled my duty. As in accordance with Commander Bian's orders the Kurogane will now withdraw." The blonde ace replied calmly.

How or why they could hear this was unclear to Blake, but she decided against questioning it.

What happened next was unclear, but suddenly all the remaining DC troops withdrew, and it seemed that all personnel evacuated the base. She could vaguely make out a yellow Guarlion leaving in a different direction before it disappeared.

"Wait, what's going on? Where are they all going? Did we win?" Ryusei questioned in confusion.

"No. Not yet. There has yet to be an announcement of surrender, and there are still DC forces remaining unaccounted for." Ingram responded coolly.

"The Granzon and Valsion…" Latune provided.

"Most likely they await within." The gruff voice of Daitetsu cut into their conversation.

"There is an entrance here, presumably leading to an underground area." Rai remarked as he indicated said gate.

Even as they laid their eyes upon the massive gates they opened, giving a clear message.

'Come.' It said.

"The Hagane is unable to enter. All forces, perform repairs and resupply. Prepare to assault the last stronghold of the DC." The elderly captain ordered.

A chorus of affirmations rang out as they regrouped with the Hagane for repairs and resupply.

This would be the final battle… Hopefully they could reunite with the rest of team RWBY and start working on finding a way home. If there even was one…

_**-Break—**_

"That's right. Come, warriors of the Hagane, prove yourselves." The deep bass voice of Bian Zoldark rang out inside his Valsion.

It was lazily standing around inside a massive underground chamber. Quite a ways off to its right hovered the Granzon, the purpled haired man inside patiently awaiting the climactic showdown that was about to begin.

And to the front in-between waited a black and red Guarlion.

"There is no need for you to stand so far ahead Miss Rose." The calm and polite voice of Shu Shirakawa instructed the young pilot of the Guarlion.

"I cannot idly sit by and watch. They will at the very least have to defeat me as well." She responded, her voice containing no sign of hesitation.

Bian sighed deeply. "Then at the very least be sure to surrender before you are killed. You need to continue on, in order to repent for your sin, like Elzam."

"Of course. I'm not ready to die just yet." She said, her bravado temporarily falling away as her voice revealed profound sadness.

"I at the very least shall respect Commander Bian's will and simply observe." Shu interjected, with no readily apparent change in emotion.

"I am most grateful Professor Shirakawa." The gruff elder said with genuine gratefulness in his voice.

A silent notification interrupted them.

They had come.

* * *

**Author's note: Ugh. This was just... This took far too long, and I'm not sure I like the end result overly much. I hate writer's block, and I think I just had one of my worst cases. Oh well, what's done is done.**

**What do you think of the chapter? Feel free to tell me in a review. Hopefully the next chapter will be interesting, both for me to write and for you to read. Wait... excrement, the next chapter will be...**

**I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	29. Chapter 29

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

Will heaved a nervous sigh as she watched the forces arrayed against them. The mighty flagship of the UCC, the Macht, hovered before the blue and green globe that was the Earth, escorted by two Albatross-class ships. Between them she could make out the distinct figure of the Grungust Type-0, waiting for them, as agreed.

Spreading out before them was also a sizable force of Guarlions, with a unit of Barrelions backing them up.

And as expected the Guarlions were all members of the Treue squad.

The elite royal-guard of the UCC. As expected of the flagship fleet, only the best follows it.

But, to her great relief, she could see no sign of Ruby.

"The UCC flagship fleet…" Lefina said with a small amount of distress in her voice.

"Its smaller now after they split parts off to protect Elpis, so the numbers aren't overwhelming." Sean remarked almost casually.

"Well that eases my mind." Viletta responded with a slight hint of sarcasm.

"That's good, after all, they do say that sickness starts with the mind." Excellen chipped in cheerfully.

"I don't think that's what she meant…" Bullet retorted with concern in his voice.

'_What…?'_

"I'm glad to see you haven't changed." A familiar voice said unexpectedly softly.

'_What.'_

"Sänger Zonvolt, is this the battle you desired?" Kyousuke responded to the one who had spoken.

A few moments passed with nothing but silence.

"…Yes. It's the path we must take." There was a slight hint of sadness in the otherwise steely voice.

'_Could it… be…?'_ She wondered.

"Enough Sänger, he must reach an answer on his own." A deep rumbling voice cut in, one she recognized from some recordings she had come across when looking into their opposition as belonging to Maier V. Branstein, the leader of the UCC.

This seemed to annoy Katina, not much of an achievement really, who promptly exclaimed loudly: "The winner lives to fight another day! That's war!"

Will flinched slightly at this statement.

'_It's not wrong you know.'_ Eis pointed out coldly.

'_I know… it's just… harsh… and blunt…'_ She replied waveringly. _'It reminds… me of…'_

She couldn't finish that sentence.

'_Of what?'_ Her other self asked impatiently.

She didn't respond.

"Here they come!" Kyousuke barked, interrupting them.

Indeed, the UCC forces had started moving.

"The final bet… Let's ante up our lives!" The purple-haired mechanic exclaimed, sounding oddly exited.

"The odds are bad… but it's worth it! Here I come!" From the normally stoic Kyousuke came an unusually hot-blooded shout.

"Good! Come!" Sänger responded, not losing at all in the hot-blooded aspect.

They moved up slowly, keeping close together. This was not an enemy where they could carelessly charge in.

Instead, the first to make a move was the enemy, the front ranks of the Treue squad moving up, engaging them.

The ensuing fight was the toughest yet. The Treue were well-trained, skilled and disciplined. They would follow up each other's attacks and take attacks for their comrades, lessening the damage by being prepared for the attack.

But the PT squadrons aboard the Hiryu had made it this far for a reason, and after all the fighting they had done, they had become skilled (not to mention some of their members had been skilled to begin with).

Their teamwork was just as good, their skills were just as good. But while the Guarlion was a solid unit, easily able to match any mass production Gespenst… the thing was… there was only three of those in the Hiryu's complement.

The rest were custom models, prototypes or other high-spec units. Units they had gotten used to.

Even the Treue fell. Valiantly, but they fell. And as their numbers dwindled the Barrelions moved up, laying down long range fire. Soon after the rest of the Treue moved up.

In a way one could say the battle began in earnest then. Will was forced on the defensive, her opponents too many for her.

Luckily, Tasuku came to her aid, and the massive bulk of the Giganscudo provided much needed protection.

"Are you alright Weiss?!" He asked, a measure of genuine concern in his voice.

"Yes, thank you… How about you… the Giganscudo can't take an unlimited amount of punishment…" She responded, doing her best not to hesitate between words.

"Huh? Yea-yeah… It's- "A hit from a Barrelion's cannon interrupted him.

She heard him mutter about damage to the Seize Shield, and she could see how one of the arm-mounted shields crackled slightly, with several dents, rifts and other damage visible.

Clearly it wasn't fine, but Will did not have the heart to tell him off about it.

"Damn, take this! Giga Wide Blaster!" In response to the long-range harassment Tasuku unleashed the energy beam weapon mounted into the massive machine's chest, getting lucky and catching two Barrelions square on, turning them to dust, while an unfortunate Troye pilot got hit while evading a furiously charging Katina.

The young Huntress noticed a Guarlion moving towards them at high speeds, and realised it was trying to use its ramming attack, probably against the Giganscudo, judging by the way it was adjusting its course.

"Tasuku, behind you!" She cried out, and the mechanic reacted.

A fierce clash occurred as the boy managed to get a shield up in time, mitigating the potential damage to some extent, but the awkward angle meant that the shield was pushed away, and Will could see the opponent moving to take advantage, pulling out a sword even as she fired her auto-cannons straight at her target.

While the bullets did little against the heavy plating of the Giganscudo, it did serve to distract Tasuku, and to Will it was clear the enemy was buying time in order to better be able to strike a weak-spot with the sword.

She was good, whoever she was, and it finally registered that this one had a different colouring.

The leader, perhaps? She was the only Treue member present that stands out, so it only seemed logical that she would be their leader.

Regardless, Tasuku was a comrade, she wouldn't let him get incapacitated before her.

So she charged, slamming into the Guarlion, pushing them both away.

She activated the Plasma Stakes, rearing back the now energized fist. But before she could punch her opponent lashed out with a kick, sending her Gespenst flying, wasting the charge.

"Thanks… that was scary." Tasuku said gratefully.

"Don't worry about it. Focus on getting to the Hiryu for emergency repairs instead. I'll hold her off." Will replied, her voice clear and unwavering now that she was focused.

The Giganscudo immediately started moving away, and the Treue leader made a move to follow.

She wouldn't let her, and fired a precise shot with a Mega Beam Rifle. Unfortunately, her target realised her mistake and made an abrupt stop and even a boost back, the beam passing in front.

Will understood that the Giganscudo was something of an… hated existence to the colonists, what with the Hope incident and all, but to think that someone as skilled as this almost made a grave error because of it…

Of course, to the credit of her opponent, she now had her full attention. She wouldn't get any more chances for cheap-shots.

Good.

The white Huntress took a moment to note the situation. Apart from the captain before her, the Treue had been all but wiped out, along with any other UCC squadrons in the battle. The ATX team had engaged Sänger, Kyousuke locked in deadly close-combat with the massive Type-0.

At the same time the Hiryu, Giganscudo and R-Gun had engaged the Albatrosses and the Macht, exchanging cannon fire from extreme range, with the giant shield working to minimize damage to the Hiryu.

That left Katina and Russel, who were busy fighting some remaining Barrelions and very likely to go for the Macht or Type-0 first, and Radha and Gilliam, who were fighting the last few Treue members.

One on one against the Treue squad captain?

Brilliant.

She had to make mad dashes side to side as a rain of highly accurate Railgun shots came for her, which she returned with shots from her Beam Rifle.

None of them hit, her opponent skilfully dodging, far more gracefully in her more agile machine.

Still, this didn't deter Will, not even as her opponent started scoring hits as the distance closed. Thankfully, she also got some hits in, minor scrapes really, but it meant she wasn't losing **quite **that badly.

But soon it came down to the point where ranged weaponry just wasn't a good idea, and they both pulled out their respective blades.

Soon they clashed, and here Will actually was at an advantage. She was a Huntress. The enemy she had trained to fight didn't fly about **shooting** at you, they tried to tear your face off. And Weiss Schnee used a sword. Well, Rapier, to be exact.

Her opponent was good, weaving around, looking for openings to strike a weak spot.

But she was expecting her opponent to be only a rudimentary swords-man. She got a fencer with real experience with sword-play. Each of Will's thrust were precise, calculated, and dangerous. It had taken her quite some time to get these motions into the Gespenst's OS, but it was worth it.

While her foe did adapt quickly, those hits she took in the moments of surprise were not insubstantial. And as the Treue captain realised she couldn't win at this range, she made the only decision she could.

She tried to use the Guarlion's superior speed to open up the distance between them.

Will had predicted this. In that moment her enemy was focused on escaping she brought out the shotgun she had equipped. A spray of bullets smashed into the Guarlion, shredding a leg and severely damaging the rest.

It stopped. The Guarlion stopped, the Tesla Drive spluttering as it failed. As Will became confused the enemy contacted her.

"You, pilot of the white Gespenst. What is your name?" The woman asked, her voice strained, several alarms audible behind it.

First her confusion grew, and several moments passed without her saying anything. Then an understanding came to her and she answered.

"Weiss Schnee."

"I see. I thought this would be difficult, but it seems not. Tell Miss Rose that I'm sorry when you next meet. It should be soon." There was a sad finality to the woman's voice, and as she watched the Guarlion blossomed into a fireball as its volatile generator catastrophically failed.

Will would have told the woman to eject, but she realised. That to the Treue, this battle was their last. They wouldn't sully their honour by surviving.

It suddenly made so much more sense. These people had come here resolved to be victorious, or die. They had sinned. They knew that. But they would fight till the end for their master and his cause. All Maier really wanted was for the Earth to fight back against the coming alien invaders, for them to be ready.

His and Bian's method was mad, but somehow Weiss Schnee could see the logic in it. Whoever came out on top of this conflict was the more worthy to protect the Earth.

'_Either that or all these people are mad.'_ Eis unhelpfully quipped.

Will made a point to ignore it.

Even as her attention returned to the fight she saw Sänger go down, the Type-0 damaged beyond any hope of continuing.

Surprisingly, he retreated.

'_Of all the people you would expect to die to atone for his sins… Was he ordered to?'_ She mused.

Now, it was just all of them, although she noted rather heavy damage across the entirety of their group, against the Macht, its escorts having been sunk already.

Even so, it was a bit daunting. The ship wasn't the UCC flagship for nothing. It was well-equipped, with an energy field of its own, and its crew was top-notch.

"Heh! Now it's my turn!" Tasuku shouted excitedly as he promptly ignored the heavy firepower coming his way, smashing through it and into the Macht's barrier.

"Now!" Kyousuke barked, unleashing one last round of bearing-rounds at the barrier.

Similarly, Excellen unleashed her Oxtongue Launcher's W-mode, while Bullet scrounged up the last dregs of energy for a G-Impact Cannon shot. Radha pitched in with the Dual Beam Cannon and Gilliam with a Slash Ripper. Viletta unleashed the Metal Genocider-mode upon the Macht's barrier.

Finally, Will, Katina and Russel all simultaneously smashed into the field with Jet Magnum.

Unable to bear the attacks crashing into it simultaneously, the Macht's energy field failed, and the ship itself suffered severe damage.

"All units, vacate the Hiryu's fire arc immediately!" Came Eun's voice.

Everyone quickly moved away, and Will looked towards the Hiryu. Its prow was opening, energy crackling around its trump card, the Gravity Impact Cannon.

A devastating torrent of energy was released in the form of a gravitational anomaly, crashing into the Macht where it started crushing the mighty ship, before contracting into an explosive blast.

As the aftermath of the weapon settled the Macht came into view. Or what was left of it.

Its exterior hull was little more than a scorched and mangled mess, its weapons completely eradicated. Surprisingly rapidly the ship started falling into the Earth's atmosphere…

"The Macht has fallen into the Earth's atmosphere." Eun said, even though everyone could see it.

"A great man has fallen." Sean said, the normally easy-going XO unexpectedly sombre.

"Yes…" Lefina agreed, her voice tinged with regret.

Will could only watch as the once mighty symbol of the UCC fleet burned up in the atmosphere, with no doubt in her heart that its Captain, Maier V. Branstein, yet stood firm and resolute on its bridge.

* * *

**Author's notes: *sigh* Finally. It shouldn't be this hard to get one of these out every week, excepting maybe of course if a lot is going on, and while there has been quite a bit the last... MONTH?! *SIGH* I still should have been able to get this done sooner. Problem is, I currently don't have enough motivation and inspiration and all that wonderful stuff, so my procrastinating tendencies keep getting the better of me. I hope this chapter is worthy of being one part of the end of an arc... Tell me what you think in a review, and feel free to point out mistakes or stupid things I have done.**

**I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	30. Chapter 30

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

What greeted the Hagane's forces as they entered the underground chambers housing the DC HQ was a daunting sight. First a hallway overlooked by several automated defence guns, not insurmountable, but worrisome indeed.

Then, once they pierced through this barrier, awaited a large chamber, within of which waited the Valsion and Granzon, standing tall quite a bit away from each other, seemingly observing them. Between them, right at the entrance to the chamber, hovered Ruby's Guarlion, crimson scythe already deployed and waiting for them.

Yang and Blake would be lying if they said this sight didn't cause them troubled emotions. Before them stood their team leader, and a close friend, as well as a beloved sister to Yang.

They hoped she would stay out of this, but her current placement and stance rather said that she would stand in their way.

It didn't look pleasant at all.

"So, warriors of the Hagane, you have arrived." The powerful bass voice of Bian Zoldark rang out. "You have done well to come this far, but this is the end. This battle will decide who is truly worthy of protecting the Earth Sphere!"

"Bian Zoldark! If you want to protect the Earth Sphere, then why did you form the DC, why did you rebel?" Yang exclaimed angrily.

Bian chuckled. "There was no other choice. The EOT Council, during the negotiations in Antarctica, they intended to surrender unconditionally." He replied.

"Negotiations in Antarctica…?" Ryusei wondered in confusion.

"During the reveal of the Shirogane and Granzon… That's when they were supposed to take place, weren't they?" Rai queried suspiciously.

"Indeed, that is why I interfered." Shu interjected calmly, a pleased smirk on his face.

"And you expect us to just believe that!?" Blake retorted unhappily.

"It is the truth. You don't need to believe it, since negotiations broke down." The purple-haired scientist replied, his demeanour unchanged despite the hostility. "Now, do not worry about me. I am merely here to observe." He added. "I will not attack, but I will retaliate if attacked upon. Now, I wish I could say the same for miss Rose, but…"

"I promised Bian I would see this through to the end! I will not let you pass!" Ruby interrupted, realising her team-mates fears.

Several moments passed, with no one saying a word. Even if this mainly affected Blake and Yang, the pilots of the Hagane had bonded, and even if Ruby was a stranger, they knew she was important to a comrade.

Yet the silence was broken by a cold, uncompromising statement.

"Then we will force our way through." It was Ingram, the pragmatic man unfazed by his subordinates' unease. "There appears to be an access way to the defence batteries, we will split in two groups, destroy them, and regroup before the entrance to the main chamber, where we will commence the final battle."

There was another few moments of silence as everyone mulled over the Major's words.

"And what about… miss Rose?" Rai asked cautiously, uncertain how to refer to their foe.

The blue-haired commander smirked. "It should be sufficient if we force her out of this battle. If, indeed, Professor Shirakawa has no intention to fight us- "

"Such is indeed the case." The purple-haired scientist interjected.

"Then our only target is Bian Zoldark." Ingram finished.

Yang swallowed nervously, but had no objections, apart from her disinclination to fight her own sister.

And so the battle commenced.

_**-Break—**_

As she had expected (but hoped they wouldn't) the pilots of the Hagane split up, going for the defence batteries, a most reasonable strategy, seeing as there was access ways to the guns both near them and near her.

Ruby had hoped that they would have gone straight for the breakthrough, trying to ignore the guns, but it seems that even if they were mostly useless in this battle, her foes had decided to take them out first.

Of course they were cautious, they wanted to avoid unnecessary damage, and that meant it was more practical to destroy the guns, that way they could fight her without harassment.

And as expected the guns fell, not quite accurate enough against such a battle-hardened team, they barely even caused any damage, and most of that was field-repaired.

It wasn't long before they gathered before her, making sure to keep enough distance and spacing that she couldn't snipe them.

Even as the last of them gathered up they still didn't move to engage her.

She prepared herself to start the fight.

"Ruby! You can't fight against all of us! Please, stand back!" Blake shouted in despairing tones.

"Yea! You know better than that! Please, just- just… PLEASE DON'T MAKE US FIGHT YOU!" Yang followed up, her own despair almost manifesting in tears.

There was clear pain on the young girls face, but not once did her determined expression waver. She had somewhat expected this, and she had steeled herself against it.

She had no intention to die here, there was still a lot for her to do, and she could atone for her sin with work. Just like Elzam.

"Yang, Blake, leave her to me. I'll make sure to disable her unit without hurting her." Unexpectedly, the R-1 moved up, the youthful pilot unusually serious as he positioned himself to face her.

"Wha- "The elder sibling started confusedly.

"Hey, hey, Ryusei! Don't think I'll let you do this on your own!" The Cybuster moved up to join him, its similarly aged pilot being more light-hearted, even if it was a bit strained. "I have some experience fighting her!"

"Masaki… Thanks. Major! Let us deal with this!" The hot-blooded otaku pleaded.

A tense few seconds passed as Ingram seemingly contemplated the request.

Finally, he nodded. "While it troubles me to leave two such valuable forces tied up here, it would probably be for the best. I'll leave this to you." Suddenly he moved forward, and with him followed the others.

Ruby made a move to intercept, but the Cybuster blocked her. She already knew that the machine was capable of moving even faster than her, at least as long as she didn't induce her semblance, which would drain her too much.

She supposed it had been silly of her to expect to block off a passageway large enough to allow **Space Noah Class** ships through, but it still hurt that she couldn't even stall them after all that bravado.

Still, she would test these two, who seemed to form an integral part in the growing strength of the forming unit that was the pilots of the Hagane's forces.

If they couldn't defeat her, they would never be able to defeat Bian, or the coming alien threat.

"Heh, I would say that this is our long awaited rematch, but it seems it's going to be two on one." The green-haired pilot of the Cybuster said cockily.

"Hmm, this is the first time we face each other directly." The brown-haired youth mused, remaining uncharacteristically serious.

"I guess it is." She responded, scrutinizing her opposition. "Ryusei was it? I see you're a test-pilot from the SRX project… Let me test the power of that prototype for myself!"

She charged in towards the duo, scattering them with a sweep of her scythe.

She already had a feel for the combat ability of the Cybuster, so she went for the R-1 instead. Surprisingly she found herself predicted, Ryusei's reaction time was much better than she expected, and the variable machine dodged out of the way nimbly, and she was forced to dodge as the R-1's revolver was fired at her from short range.

She then found herself pressed as the Cybuster speed in from behind, and she had to use Crescent Rose's recoil to assist her evasion, using the momentum it generated to spin around, bringing the sharp scythe blade towards her attacker, but she found it blocked by his sword.

She quickly kicked out at the wind elemental, successfully forcing it away so that she could block a knife from the R-1.

She tried to take distance, but the Cybuster kept up, its sword brining a flurry of blows.

She spun her weapon furiously, somehow managing to defend against her opponent, but her instincts told her of danger, and she found herself only barely evading a bullet, the force generated as it glanced her shoulder jarring her.

A quick glance past the Cybuster confirmed that the R-1 had pulled out a rifle, and it was most likely responsible for her damage.

She grit her teeth as she dodged again, the guy was surprisingly accurate, able to know both were she and the Cybuster would go, aiming just past his ally at her.

And she couldn't shoot back, because her other opponent was right up in her face…

She resigned herself to being unable to assist in the later fight, and activated her semblance, a sudden flurry of rose-petals the only remain of where she was.

She knew that the Cybuster could still keep up, but she also knew that she had a window where she was faster.

She used the recoil to go even faster, knowing that this machine wasn't really built to handle it, and hit the R-1 with full force.

To her surprise the will she felt around it hardened into a barrier, making her attack less effective, and she only succeeded in shearing off an arm that had been raised in order to block.

In response she felt the will emanating from the machine explode.

'_Psychodrive focus!'_ She could her the youth's voice echo in her head. She shook her head in confusion, the connection wasn't open…

A premonition of danger reached her, and she wanted to move away, but something slammed into her from behind, stopping her movements.

'_Finisher! T-Link Knuckle!'_

The will that had exploded coalesced around the R-1's fist, which then shot forward in a punch, hitting square in the abdomen of her Guarlion.

Ruby poured as much of her Aura as she could into her machine, hoping it would do something to prevent her current predicament.

The energy in the punch exploded violently, causing major damage to her unit, but surprisingly it was still somewhat intact, although several major systems had been damaged beyond even field repairs, and she had wasted her Aura.

She had lost, handily. She noted the Cybuster behind her as it moved away. It had indeed been the Cybuster that had stopped her from withdrawing.

She folded up Crescent Rose and sighed deeply. She was extremely exhausted, and she knew well that she needed rest right now.

"You're giving up?" Masaki asked curiously.

"Yeah. My Guarlion Rose is wrecked, and I'm all but ready to faint." As if to emphasise her point, her Guarlion ceased moving completely.

And after a few moments the two of them moved on.

And in that moment she found herself with a companion, as the Granzon lazily appeared next to her.

"That was magnificent miss Rose." The enigmatic scientist said.

She sighed again. "If you say so Professor Shirakawa."

Then she turned to observe the final battle.

_**-Break—**_

Simultaneously as the battle between Ruby and Masaki and Ryusei unfolded another battle was about to start.

The remaining pilots cautiously approached the looming Valsion, keeping an eye on the Granzon to make sure he wouldn't suddenly attack them.

As far as they knew the man was capricious, and his word was not the most trustworthy. Especially if you asked a certain green-haired youth, who was thankfully occupied with other matters at the moment.

However, with several excellent opportunities to attack passed over by the Granzon, and facing attacks from the Valsion, they commenced the attack.

First in was the Grungust, flanked by the Wildraubiter in its flight configuration, the Wildschwein and the Hückebein 009. Behind that Rai provided covering fire, trying to whittle down the Valsion as much as possible, while the Gespensts moved up cautiously so as to not be fired upon by the monstrously powerful machine's attacks.

"This battle is the one that will decide the fate of the Earth Sphere!" Bian shouted, voice filled with grim determination as he met the Grungust's Calamity Blade with the Valsion's Divine Arm.

Despite the prodigious power of the super warrior, it was still being pushed down, the power of the red monstrosity overwhelming it.

But this struggle provided everyone else with opportunity, and soon specialised energy draining weapons crashed into its barriers.

Its energy reserves might be immense, but they were not infinite.

Next an energized fist smashed into the barriers, even as an energy beam and a ripper tore into it.

The barrier faltered, and for the first time, they landed solid blows.

Even so, though the mighty machine might have been staggered slightly, allowing the Grungust to disengage, its armour held, and the damage sustained was minimal.

"Now, while the barrier is down!" Ingram barked, following up his command by slashing at the Valsion with the Circle Zanber.

Simultaneously a pinpoint Beam Cannon salvo smashed into the head.

And yet it stood, and with a mighty swing of its enormous blade forced its attackers away, lest they be torn apart.

Its armour had been rent, and part of the face armouring had been melted off, but the Valsion was far from falling.

"Not yet. Not yet! As long as this Valsion stands the DC won't fall!" The scientist turned commander screamed, even as massive amounts of energy gathered around the war machine's frame. "Mega Graviton Wave!"

The energy was unleashed in a massive burst, throwing everyone near it away and inflicting large amounts of damage.

All except the Grungust, who still stood tall, even if it had taken quite a bit of damage from the attack.

"We won't fall from only that!" Irm shouted as he unleashed the Final Beam, distracting the enemy so that the others could get up.

"Not yet…I can still…" Latune muttered as she forced her machine to stand once more.

"The 009 won't stop from only this…" Blake commented as she got her machine up on one leg.

"The Gespy and I share one thing in common… We're both really tough!" Yang exclaimed as her Gespenst skid to a halt.

"This level of damage… The unit is not yet inoperable." Ingram remarked to himself, even as he noted that the Circle Zanber was unusable.

Once again a shot from the Hyper Beam Rifle smashed into the renewed barrier, this time with a perfectly timed shot from Rai, a salvo of shots from Ingram's Photon Rifle and Rippers from Blake and Aya.

Once again the barrier failed, and once again the armour received the attacks, with only light damage to show for it.

But that was fine.

"計都羅睺剣！ 暗剣殺！(KeiTouRaGouKen! AnKenSatsu!) (Calamity Blade! Unpropitious direction!)"

Suddenly the Grungust's sword tore into the machine with a fearsome combination, tearing apart the armour.

And yet the Valsion stood.

"Akashic Buster!" "T-Link Knuckle!"

Suddenly a mighty bird of blue fire and a fist wrapped in psychic energy crashed into it.

At some point during the fight Ruby had been defeated, and now stood watching Bian Zoldark's last stand.

Because of this, the R-1 and Cybuster had become free to move in, and had launched their killer moves in concert when they saw the opening presented to them.

And as they passed by, and the Valsion again became visible, what greeted them was a ruin.

The armouring and even large parts of the frame had been torn off. The sword that had been used to try and block the fire bird had been destroyed, and the cockpit had been stripped bare, showing the pilot, who now bleed from a gash on the head.

And even in this state it moved. But it was clearly defeated.

"SHU! This time we'll settle the score!" With the primary threat defeated, Masaki screamed a challenge towards his nemesis, ignoring everything else.

"Unfortunately, it is time for me to leave. My role here is over, I have indeed borne witness to your will, protectors of Earth. I bid you farewell for now." But Shu did not accept, instead calmly giving a farewell as if an angry green-haired boy wasn't charging him.

Then the Granzon simply rose up, and disappeared through a hole in space.

"WAIT! SHU!" The youth screamed in vain.

Bian chuckled again, this time interrupted by a violent cough. "Magnificent. Indeed, you are worthy of becoming the Earth Sphere's protectors…" Bian said, his voice straining slightly. "You are indeed prepared… to face the coming threat… I leave it to you, young warriors…"

"Huh? Wait… don't tell me? The DC…?" The coin dropped for Blake.

"It is time for this old man to retire…" The once imposing man suddenly sounded much older. "The future rests in your young hands…" He coughed again.

Then his gaze grew distant as the Valsion took a step. "Death draws near… It is only natural for a parent to go first… Forgive me… Ryune…"

Then the once mighty weapon fell, and a brilliant light engulfed everything as a massive explosion took it, eradicating all signs of the DC's trump card and its commander.

* * *

**Author's notes: Well, this chapter became longer than original anticipated. I mean, its still short, but its longer than what I usually write. You know, while writing this chapter, I tried to find a proper translation for the Calamity Blade... And was thoroughly confused. So I simply decided to keep calling it the Calamity Blade (apparently it refers to two non-existent planets blamed for solar and lunar eclipses, alternatively to two demons responsible for eclipses, I didn't feel like looking into it THAT deeply, so if someone knows maybe they can help me?). **

**I'm not entirely sure I like this chapter, but I think it still turned out alright, so I would really appreciate some feedback. I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	31. Chapter 31

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

In a circular chamber, atop a tower, towering over an academy, three people were discussing.

One was a grey-haired man clad predominantly in green. Another was a stern blonde woman. And the third was a scruffy-looking man with unkempt black hair and stubble around his chin.

That man slammed his hands onto a desk, behind which the grey-haired man was seated, looking out the window towards a distant ring like structure.

"It's been over a week, Oz!" He exclaimed. "Tai is getting worried!" He gesticulated broadly. "Hell, I think my sister is getting worried!"

This last statement brought wonderment to the two others.

"Truly? She's been out of touch for quite some time, what makes you think that?" The grey-haired man asked curiously as he took a sip from a mug of coffee.

"I saw her searching their last known location. If not worried, then curious." Came the reply.

The grey-haired man sighed. "The gate is closed. If they were truly taken through it then there is nothing we can do on this end. Not unless we borrow the strength of people better left alone, lest ancient conflicts be allowed to rise again."

The scruffy-looking man frowned, but choose to say nothing. He glanced over at the woman, but she seemed just as uncertain as to what it meant.

"Are you telling me to do nothing?" He instead asked.

"I am asking you to trust that your nieces and their team are still alive. There was nothing to indicate they were killed, and according to team JNPR they were taken through the gate. So for now we can only trust that whoever took them was more interested in letting them live." The grey-haired man said in a tired voice. "I'm sorry Qrow." He then added sadly.

A call interrupted them.

What appeared was an aging man with black hair that showed strips of white.

"Oz, we are getting an energy reading from the ring!" He shouted.

The grey-haired man raised an eyebrow. "Is there anyone else near it on our end?"

"No one."

"And Miss Schnee isn't present?"

"No." The man answered, before realising it was an odd question. "What does the Specialist have to do with this?"

"Hopefully, nothing."

"It's activating!" Came a shout from the other end.

True to that call, a field of blue energy formed within the ring.

And through it, something came.

It was hard to tell, due to the distance, and its proximity to the massive ring structure, but it seemed to be large.

They could make out a faintly humanoid outline, but it also had horns on its head, and a long tail. The body was primarily gold, purple and black, and it seemed to be mechanical in nature.

Once it passed through entirely the energy disappeared, the structure deactivating again.

They expected whatever it was that came through to start falling, yet, very much like the structure it came through, it remained floating in a direct mockery of physics.

"What is that thing!?" Several identical shouts came from various sources.

Then, energy flared from behind its shoulders, and it moved.

With surprising speed it left, making a complete mockery of the cordon of Atlesian warships circling the area, and disappearing.

**_-Break—_**

They had returned to the Hagane, bringing Ruby, who had surrendered, with them.

"Ruby!" Shouted Yang happily as she rushed towards her younger sister.

"Yang." The reply sounded like she had tried to match her sister in volume, but had failed due to exhaustion.

Which she probably had, seeing as she needed the help of Rai to stay on her feet.

Rai threw a questioning glance at Major Ingram as the elder sibling threw her arms around her sister.

To the ice man's surprise the blue-haired man simply smiled and shook his head.

"Let them." He said. "Miss Rose's allegiance to the DC seems to have been primarily anchored in Bian Zoldark, and it seems she will respect his final wishes, and allow us to defend the Earth Sphere." He frowned slightly. "Still, we will need to interrogate her, if only for formality's sake. Just because we don't feel she is an enemy, doesn't mean our superiors will feel the same."

The people around felt somewhat shocked at the cavalier attitude the normal cold and calculating man took towards the situation.

"Huh. I wondered what she would look like since we first heard her voice, but she's surprisingly adorable, isn't she?" Irm said with a thoughtful expression.

"Yeah, but… They don't really look especially alike, do they?" Ryusei added, slight confusion on his face.

"There are many different ways to be sisters." Aya interjected sagely. "Be it by blood, adoption or just strong ties…" She had a slightly wistful expression, as if she was reminiscing about something.

"They're half-siblings, sharing the same father. But honestly, I think their bonds are stronger than most siblings'." Blake explained as she watched the two, a nostalgic smile on her lips.

Interestingly enough, there was a smile on Latune's face as well, although it was hard to tell her general emotion due to her glasses.

Then the raven-haired girl went over to the sisters, prompting Ruby to disentangle from her sister's grip and throw herself at her friend in an unexpected burst of energy.

"Blake! I'm so sorry!" She exclaimed, tears streaming down her eyes as she apologised profusely.

Only the three Huntresses understood the meaning of those words, and everyone else was left with their own speculation…

Fortunately, a certain orange-haired woman wasn't present, or she would have come up with a theory some would connect to the phrase: 'Ladybug.'

Well… perhaps a certain young girl might have considered it…

But the moment was cut short as the red-haired girl passed out.

**_-Break—_**

They had brought Ruby to the infirmary after she passed out, and her condition had been identified as severe exhaustion.

As such she now lay in a bed, with a white cat curled up next to her, keeping an eye out for her.

She recognised it as one of the presences within the Cybuster, and with this level of proximity she could feel that it was sentient.

Actually, it was almost as if that power had become stronger ever since she got here. Normally she couldn't sense these kinds of things…

Moments later a nurse entered the room, a blue-haired girl with a chest rivalling her sisters.

"How are you feeling?" She asked with genuine concern in her voice.

"I'm fine, just a bit tired…" The young Huntress responded.

"That's good!" The Nurse said excitedly, looking genuinely happy. "You know, I found your sister collapsed on a street." She then proceeded to say as she did some minor checks.

"Really? Then I guess I would have to thank you for my sister's wellbeing." Ruby said happily as the nurse laid a hand upon her forehead.

A small spark seemed to pass through her mind, and for a few moments she sensed immense power from the other girl… But that passed as she withdrew her hand with a hum.

"Yup, you seem fine!" She then exclaimed. "But just in case, I made this!" She then said happily and pulled out a bottle. "It's a health drink made by me!"

She could feel the cat tense, but didn't pay it any heed.

In hindsight, she should have realised that since said cat was sentient, she probably should have paid more attention to its reactions.

As it was, she happily accepted the offering.

At first it didn't seem too bad. A few interesting tastes in there, but that could easily be attributed to various healthy ingredients…

Then the aftertaste hit, and sent her reeling. She couldn't identify the taste, because her mind shut down in order to protect her…

By the time she recovered her sister had shown up, and was sitting with a semi-worried look on her face.

"Hey sis. How are you feeling?" The blonde asked with a small smile.

"I'm… great?" The young girl was genuinely surprised by the realisation that she felt like she was nearly completely recovered.

A small nervous chuckle escaped her sister.

"Yeah, those health drinks…" She said while looking a bit uncomfortable. "They work really well, but their aftertaste seems to tend to knock people out… I've never tried it myself though."

"I would have appreciated a warning…" Ruby said unhappily, pouting slightly.

"Sorry. It slipped my mind. I was busy being happily reunited with you." Yang responded with a wide smile.

"So… what's going to happen now?" The young team-leader then asked in a despondent tone.

"I'm not entirely sure… The Major is talking to the Captain now, but it seems like he actually wants to take you in…" The elder sibling seemed a bit contemplative. "It's a bit odd really… I would have thought that he would be the biggest obstacle…"

These words confused Ruby a bit, but she decided that she wouldn't question good fortune for now.

"Isn't that a good thing?" She instead asked innocently.

"Yeah." Her sister replied with a big smile, even if it was a bit strained.

As if on cue, the door opened to reveal the blue-haired man himself, accompanied by a youthful brown-haired man, and the green-haired captain of the SRX-team.

And now that she got to take a closer look at him, Ruby decided that he reminded her of someone…

"Miss Rose. I hope you don't mind, but we would like a word with you." He stated coldly.

**_-Break—_**

Thankfully the interrogation had been short, and not too harsh. Ruby had been happy to provide what little knowledge she personally had about the DC, for what it was worth, now that it had been scattered.

She was unhappy to hear that Adler had fled with a rather sizeable group of DC members, rather than surrendering, but she had been unable to shed any light as to where he might have gone. She had never liked the man, and had no idea where he might be able to seek refuge.

She explained as much as she could about her Guarlion, but wasn't able to provide anything useful, as apart from whatever system Shu had installed and the up-scaled replica of her darling, it was mostly identical to others of its class.

Unexpectedly Masaki, the pilot of the Cybuster, had provided an answer, informing them that his cats had found that it was equipped with a modified Prana Converter, a system normally meant to take Prana, that was to say someone's life-force, and turn it into energy.

How exactly the cats had gone about finding out, or where from such a system would originate though, was never properly explained.

So after a few more formalities, and after being assigned a 'guard', she was allowed to go to the hangar.

The 'guard' turned out to be the surprisingly adorable Latune, who as it turned out was of a similar age to herself, and they had found themselves able to connect slightly through the fact that they were both a bit young for their professions.

"Still… I don't get how it remained this intact after taking the R-1's T-Link Knuckle… The armour is mostly the same as that found on the standard model after all, and those get shorn in half from a hit like that…" They found themselves arriving at the place where her Guarlion was being kept to the scene of Rob, the SRX teams chief engineer, and **Yang** of all people talking.

"I don't know, maybe it has a barrier or…" Ruby's elder sister said contemplatively.

"We've already established that there is no such system installed. The only truly deviant part is that… Prana Converter that Kuro and Shiro was talking about. And in that case I suspect you might be better off than me in explaining." The engineer complained.

The two young girls hung back, listening in on the conversation.

The busty girl took a few moments to think.

"I guess it must be Aura then…" She said as she sighed. "She must have used it to reinforce the armour and soften the blow."

"So it can do that?" Rob asked curiously.

"Well, yeah… but…" She answered while scratching her head. "If so… the scale is simply too big…"

"Too big?" The look that he gave her sister was questioning.

"Yeah. It would be too draining on the user…" It seemed like a realisation dawned upon her, and she promptly facepalmed.

Ruby suddenly got a premonition that she might want to leave, but her sister wheeled on the spot and pointed towards her.

"Damnit Rubes! That's just too reckless!" She looked somewhat upset as she exclaimed these words loudly.

"Sorry sis…" The diminutive Huntress apologised.

"Ugh…" The elder sibling slumped over slightly. "Just be careful with it, okay?"

"Yeah, I know…" She answered embarrassedly. "Is it really okay? I think it might have gotten damaged when my Guarlion Rose got disabled…" She then asked curiously.

"It escaped mostly unharmed, but Masaki's… cats helped perform some maintenance on it, so we think we got it back to working condition." The blonde man answered.

"Wait, seriously? The helped with maintenance? What are they?" The surprised young girl asked.

"Actually, Masaki called them familiars." Yang replied with a slight shrug.

"Familiars?" Ruby asked again.

"Usually defined as a type of bound animal, usually associated with witches. I believe Masaki himself explained that they were parts of him materialised through some method to assist him in operating the Cybuster." Latune chipped in with a concise tone.

Their wonderment was broken by warning claxons.

"Oh no." Yang groaned in lamentation.

"They're here." Ruby whispered, woe in her voice.

* * *

**Author's notes: Finally! And of course, the moment I decide to upload this Fanfiction's upload system decides not to function properly... So if there's anything really odd, it might be because of that. Anyway, I hope this is a chapter worth having waited for. I would be happy if you reviewed and told me what you think.  
**

**Ruby's Guarlion is a Custom in base, so its base stats would be slightly higher than those of a normal one.**

**I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	32. Chapter 32

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

The skirmish with the Aerogater scouts, and it couldn't be called anything other than a skirmish, the scout units were completely incapable of providing a threat to the units of the Hagane, even with the Battleship itself badly damaged.

Although the aliens had revealed a new card, a slightly tougher, spider-like unit with mobility restricting weaponry, but that alone was not that much of a greater threat, even if they caused a bit of damage before going down.

Ruby had been unable to help, her Guarlion was still being repaired, and it looked like they might need some parts not available on the Hagane itself, so she had been forced to watch.

Still, her heart was plagued with worry, for this was a good indication that they were coming, and she did voice this concern, which had been received by Captain Daitetsu with seriousness.

She only hoped that they were prepared enough, and that some idiot like Adler didn't try anything.

_**-Break—**_

Following the surrender of the UCC, the ATX team, as well as Weiss Schnee, had been reallocated to a new task.

What puzzled Weiss, was why she had been moved with them. She was not part of the ATX team, and should actually be stationed aboard the Hiryu.

Perhaps her wish to reunite with the rest of her team had been heard…

Major Gilliam? Could he have done something to arrange this?

No, he probably would have said something before he left…

And besides, she was pretty certain she heard mention that the order came from someone named Ingram…

"So, snow angel, excited to return to the Earth?" Excellen asked with her usual cheer.

"Not particularly. But I guess I hope to reunite with some friends…" Eis answered coldly, but a hint of warmth entered her voice in the second sentence.

They were aboard a transport ship, headed towards their new assignment.

"Oh! Oh! Is that some warmth I hear?! Is there something that can actually warm this chilly heart?" The excitable woman said as she traced a circle around where the heart was on the white heiress' chest.

The white-themed girl blushed with indignation, and prepared to retort, when they were interrupted.

"Excellen, stop harassing her. We've picked up a distress signal." Kyousuke said emotionlessly.

"A distress signal? From whom?" Bullet asked curiously.

"The Dukedom of Riksent. A small country in Europe. It seems they're under attack." The brown haired man responded.

"Should we help them? If we change course, we can reach them." The orange-haired woman queried with a worried look on her face.

"We shouldn't, we have our objective, and others should be able to help." The team-leader stated bluntly.

"But… abandoning them doesn't… sit well with me." Will suddenly said, earning a few odd looks from the others, and a harsh glare within her mind from Eis.

"I have to agree with her Lieutenant. It doesn't sit well ignoring this knowing we could help." The blonde boy agreed.

Kyousuke sighed. "Excellen, keep us on our current course."

"Okay, Kyousuke!" She replied, sounding surprisingly chipper.

Will kept that she felt a change in course to herself.

_**-Break—**_

"Excellen, why are we in Riksent?" Kyousuke queried stoically as they surveyed the picturesque Middle-European town, complete with a castle.

But there was one thing that stood out as not belonging. A unit of Armoured Modules approaching the castle.

"Oops." The woman responded unapologetically.

"Divine Crusaders remnants…" Will said unhappily.

"Ah, you responded to our call. Thank you so very much." An elderly man contacted them, sporting a white goatee, a moustache, and white hair cut short, with a bald spot on top of his head. He also had a monocle on his right eye.

Immediately Weiss thought of a butler, for even with only what she had seen of him, and from the few words he had spoken, she immediately knew that this man was a butler through and through.

"Do you have any idea why they are here?" The leader of the ATX-team replied seriously.

"I fear they are targeting my mistress, Lady Shine Hausen, Crown Princess of Riksent and its current regent." The elderly butler replied.

"Hm. Are they planning on demanding a ransom or something?" Excellen mused.

"Were is she now?" Kyousuke queried, remaining dead serious.

"She is right here. I have urged her to put herself in safety, but she refuses." The man replied tiredly.

A small girl appeared, clad in a regal pink dress with plenty of frills, and a red cloth wrapped around the waist, trailing down like a cape, with a flap down the front as well. She also had a red band hanging down her left shoulder and wrapping around to the right side.

Her blonde hair was braided and wrapped into buns on either side of her head, held together with red cloth and ribbons, leaving four braids to fall on either side of the buns down to the shoulders. A small tiara also adorned her head.

Her appearance truly screamed royalty.

But she was also young, younger than Ruby even. And she was the regent? The implication sent a shudder through Weiss' spine.

"I refuse to run away like a-" The little girl started declaring before she stopped herself and coughed slightly. "I mean, I refuse to escape cowardly and leave my people behind! I beseech of you, stop these ruffians attacking us!"

Interestingly enough it sounded like she was about to say something uncouth before she corrected herself.

"Well, now that they've seen us, and we've gotten such a fierce request, we might as well sortie." True to the stoic team-leader's words, the AMs had reacted, and shifted their attention towards them.

Particularly worrying was the green Barrelion. Seeing as the Barrelion was a long-range cannon type, and the non-standard colour generally meant commander use…

It could probably shoot their transport down rather quickly, leaving them in a great heap of trouble.

"Oh hey! It's the red horned one again!" A rather juvenile voice reached them, presumably from the leader of the DC remnants they were facing.

"Oh, it's you again. The brat that thinks this is a game." Kyousuke retorted, a rare hint of displeasure in his voice.

"Spare me the lectures, old man! This time I'll crush you!" The enemy leader responded angrily.

For some reason Weiss was reminded of Cardin Winchester from back home, an overconfident oaf with poor taste in hobbies and an unbearable attitude.

"We need to make sure they don't reach the Princess! I'll go ahead and block them off, you provide backup!" The stoic man ordered.

They gave their confirmations, and the Alteisen sped off, with the Weißritter doing its level best to keep up.

In the meanwhile, Will and Bullet took their slower, land-locked machines to directly intercept the Lions that were approaching them.

All the while Kyousuke and Excellen engaged a small squadron of Schwerts that was trying to move ahead.

The relatively fragile fighters, while agile, didn't stand a chance.

Between the unreasonable aiming skills of Excellen and Kyousuke's general excellence, even the high speed and agility of the fighters wasn't enough to save the pilots with their average skills.

As for the Lions…

They did better, to be fair, but after Will successfully feinted one of them into getting too close so that she could ram a Beam Sword blade into his face.

'_Seriously, you'd think that they would realise that if there's any time a Gespenst is able to outmatch a Lion, it would be in melee combat.'_ Eis supplied with a huff.

Will didn't deign to respond, as she put a Mega Beam Rifle shot straight into a Lion trying to run from Bullet's Mk II, that had just torn apart yet another Lion using its Chakram Caster.

Not for the first time Will felt a sting of frustration at how others were using superior machines compared to hers.

Not that she gave voice to that sentiment, she did understand that that's just the way it works sometimes, that sometimes others got nice stuff for reasons she couldn't see.

Didn't stop her from feeling she deserved something nice as well…

Not the time, she reminded herself, as she switched her focus to the last remaining enemy.

Kyousuke had already engaged him, and Excellen had started taking shots at it, but Barrelions were tough, and this guy, even if a bit off, was still cut from a different cloth than the rest.

Simply put, it wasn't taking all that much damage, even while it could take far more.

That was, until she landed a sneaky shot with her Mega Beam Rifle, throwing it off balance straight into a shot from Bullet's G-Impact Cannon.

And while he was flustered from the unexpected hits that had left quite a few thrusters inoperable, and shorn off several plates of armour, Excellen hit him with a well-aimed W-mode shot while Kyousuke unleashed the Claymore straight into his face.

Even as explosions rippled from the damaged machine's death throes, an escape pod launched out, and was subsequently hidden from view as the Barrelion perished in one final violent explosion.

By the time they might have been able to see it, it was long gone.

_**-Break—**_

"I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your assistance." The aging butler said, with a deep bow and genuine gratefulness in his voice. "Now, while I fear it might be presumptuous of me, I would ask that you allow the princess and myself to go with you."

"Why? Do you believe she will be targeted again?" Kyousuke asked, no change in his emotional state visible.

"I know I will be targeted again." The young princess spoke up, a certain fear in her voice.

"My lady possesses the power of precognition, as did her esteemed ancestors. The house of Hausen has long produced holders of this ability, and the Princess might be the strongest it has ever produced. I fear these malcontents were targeting her because of this." The butler interjected as an explanation.

"So you feel that she would be safer with the military for the time being?" Weiss asked, completely unfazed by the talk of psychic powers.

"Indeed." He responded.

"If my presence here brings them, then, though it may pain me, it might be best that I temporarily leave for safer places, at least until this is all over." The blonde girl said, steely resolve in her voice.

Weiss looked to Kyousuke.

"While I don't know about this talk about seeing the future, it is the truth that they were targeting the Princess. We can bring her to Izu base, which is our destination. She should be safe there." The stoic man responded.

"Once again, I thank you." The butler said, bowing again. "Oh my, where are my manners, I have yet to introduce myself. My name is Joyce L'Dhal, loyal servant of the Princess."

"Kyousuke Nanbu, and this is Excellen Browning, Brooklyn Luckfield and Weiss Schnee." Kyousuke returned the favour, introducing himself, as well as the others, much to their chagrin. "Weiss, you look after the Princess."

"Understood Lieutenant." The white-haired girl replied, with only a tiny sigh.

"Well then, as earlier introduced, I am Weiss Schnee." She curtsied. "It is my honour to be of assistance."

The young Princess looked at her with surprise on her face.

"Wow, that almost sounded genuine…" She started, but trailed off with a blush as she realised it was an unrefined statement.

And since there wasn't really any refined way to express it, the girl fell silent, prompting a small involuntary chuckle from Weiss.

Who then promptly fell into a blush herself when she realised her rudeness.

Prompting a chuckle from the little Princess.

"Weiss was it? You seem to me like you are of noble upbringing." She then asked curiously.

The heiress hesitated to answer.

"Yes." She finally said curtly. "Forgive me Princess Hausen, it's just- A bit difficult to talk about right now."

"You may call me Shine." The little girl suddenly said.

"Pardon?" Weiss asked in surprise.

"I said you may call me Shine." Shine repeated.

"Understood, Princess Shine." The heiress responded with a smile.

* * *

**Author's notes: Why was this so difficult? So, I understand that my way of dealing with the battle directly after the one with Bian might have been a bit underwhelming, but I couldn't find any reason to detail it in its entirety. I don't think anything of plot importance actually happens during the battle, and I think that literally the most important thing in it is the first appearance of the Yirmeyah, the spider looking things. That and just that it kind of tells you that the Aerogaters are coming I guess. If I'm wrong then feel free to tell me. Reviews are always welcome. I am also a bit sad no one could correctly guess the identity of the thing that came through the Crossgate last chapter (hint, its a Banpresto Original).**

**I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	33. Chapter 33

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

"The Real Personal Trooper type-2… so this is the second unit of the R-series, the R-2…" Ruby Rose said as she observed the bulkily armoured humanoid form of the R-2.

"Yes, it's an armoured unit meant for long-range engagements. It lacks the T-Link system, but even so serves as the centrepiece of the SRX!" Rob informed enthusiastically.

They were in the hangar bays of the Far East Brigade's Izu base, where work had finally been finished on the second machine of the SRX-project.

"Centrepiece?" The red-haired girl asked curiously.

"Woops, I probably said too much. That's quite a while away yet. Don't tell Major Ingram please." The blonde mechanic said sheepishly.

"Not a word. So… what's the T-Link system then?" The young girl asked with narrowed eyes.

"Hmm? The T-Link system? That- is a man-machine interface created for the SRX-project…" The mechanic chuckled nervously as he trailed off.

"I see… Could I… try it at some point?" The young girl queried cautiously.

"You'd have to talk to the Major about it. Or you could try asking Professor Kobayashi while we're here, but I believe he's quite busy with the R-3 right now." The blonde answered thoughtfully.

"Huh. Okay. I'll see about that." The girl simply said.

In her thoughts of course, was the suspicion that one of the members of the ATX-team had also had one of these systems, both in his Gespenst, which she suspected was the Type-TT used by the SRX-team, and later while using the Hückebein Mk-II.

Even if she had only had passing encounters with that particular member, she was certain it was the same one.

At least her instincts told her as much.

And she trusted those.

"Rob, is the R-2 ready? I have been ordered to launch." A cold, professional voice cut through the silence that had enveloped the two, breaking Ruby out of her musings.

"Ah, Rai! It's all good!" Rob replied. "But why are you launching?"

"Training exercise." Rai replied curtly.

For some reason, this caused a vague sense of apprehension in Ruby.

_**-Break—**_

"Weiss, you stay here with the Princess. We'll humour this Major Ingram with his live-fire exercise." Kyousuke said coldly.

"Are you sure about this?" The heiress asked apprehensively.

"Don't worry Snow Angel! We'll be fine, so you go ahead and just watch us!" Excellen replied light-heartedly.

"What she said. This was an order by a superior officer." The stoic team-leader smirked. "Besides, I don't dislike stunts like this."

"We'll do our best not to hurt the other side." Even Bullet didn't seem to mind all that much, although Weiss could definitively detect some signs of unease.

She sighed.

"Okay. Do what you want. I'll watch carefully." She said tiredly.

"Good. Excellen, Bullet, we're heading out!" The reckless brown-haired man said.

_**-Break—**_

"So, the R-1 and the R-2." Yang said as she watched the two machines from the observation post. "You know, for two machines supposedly from the same series, they sure look and act really differently."

"Well, the R-series are mainly testbeds for EOT, right? Maybe it's no wonder they're so different." Blake provided.

"Yes, but Miss Xiao Long's point is still valid. It would have been cheaper and simpler to just use a similar frame for them both, yet they don't seem to be the same at all." Ryoto added thoughtfully.

"Oh come on, don't be so stiff! You can call me Yang just fine!" The boisterous gal said with a grin, pulling the smaller boy to her.

Off a bit to the side Ruby stood, watching intently with Latune by her side, occasionally exchanging a few words, although Yang was unable to hear them from where she was standing. But she could see a smile on her younger sister's face, and something akin to a smile on the younger girl's face.

The elder sibling was happy that her little sister seemed to be getting along with the girl, although she couldn't quite grasp what exactly it was they were talking about.

"Um… Miss- Yang?" A small strained voice croaked out from near her side. "Could you… please… let me go… can't… breathe…"

With an embarrassed blush the Huntress let Ryoto go, having spaced out slightly when she noted her sister and Latune.

"Sorry…" She said sheepishly scratching the back of her head.

"N-no, don't worry…" The slightly older boy replied timidly.

"Ugh… Ryoto, just accept Yang's apology, okay?" Blake interjected.

"Okay..." The boy responded.

The cat Faunus sighed deeply.

"So, what are they doing?" She then asked.

"Not sure, Major Ingram didn't really tell them anything. He just said that it's a training exercise." Irm replied as he approached. "Ah, there it is." He then suddenly said.

They all turned their attention towards whatever Irm had noticed.

A small joyous sound was emitted by Ruby as a large Super Robot appeared, moving into position.

"Is that an…" The raven-haired girl asked out loud.

"The Grungust Type-2. It's meant to be easier to produce for the sake of mass-production, but I really doubt they'll build many of them. It's not quite as well armoured as the type-1, but it still packs a bit of a punch." The blue-haired man said, a hint of pride sneaking into his voice.

"Wait, who's piloting it anyway?" Yang asked curiously. "It's movement's looking a bit unstable."

"I don't know… the Major didn't tell." The lady's man shrugged.

"Of course he didn't…" Blake muttered unhappily.

"Why aren't we listening in on them? Wouldn't we know then?" Ruby suddenly suggested.

In response Latune pressed a button.

"Y-yes, Sir!" Kusuha's voice suddenly resounded.

"Kusuha?! Is that Kusuha in that Grungust?!" Ryusei exclaimed in shock.

"Kusuha? That nurse?" The red-haired girl wondered in confusion.

"Control to R-1 and R-2, begin as soon as G2 is in position." Ingram ordered without a hint of emotion in his voice.

"Sir, why is Kusuha in that new mech?!" The brown-haired teen questioned.

"I don't need to answer you." The Major stated coldly.

"Don't give me that! Answer me!" The Otaku demanded.

"Well, he's gone irrational." Yang stated.

"Ryusei, stop!" The blue-haired girl suddenly shouted.

"Kusuha…?!" The teen flinched.

"They didn't force me into piloting the Grungust type-2. I volunteered." She said unhappily.

"Well, didn't see that one coming." Blake said, flabbergasted.

"What? Kusuha- why would you?" Ryusei queried in confusion.

"I don't want to see any more people hurt!" Kusuha exclaimed unhappily. "I had aptitude, so I decided to fight! So that no others get hurt!"

The teen was taken aback by this outburst.

Suddenly an alert interrupted them.

"Ryusei! A contact is approaching from the sea!" Rai exclaimed.

"What, is it the DC?!" The teen said.

Suddenly a red machine burst out onto land.

"That's-!" Ruby exclaimed in surprise.

"What's that? A Gespenst?!" The Otaku exclaimed.

"Ruby? You know that thing?" Yang asked.

Suddenly it charged, crossing the distance between itself and the R-1 in a mere instant, Ryusei barely managing to evade critical damage as the Revolving Stake smashed into its shoulder armour, tearing it off.

"I see you're not merely relying on your unit." Kyousuke said calmly.

"What?!" Ryusei exclaimed yet again.

Next a flying white mech appeared.

"Code PTX-007-03C… A customised Gespenst?" Rai wondered.

And finally a slightly altered Hückebein appeared.

"The Mk-II…" Ruby said. "The ATX-team…"

"Do you know them Ruby?" Blake asked.

"They're a unit that fought aboard the Hiryu… They should have been part of the force that sunk the Macht…" She said hesitantly.

"Doesn't that make them pretty elite?" Yang wondered.

"Change of plans. Load live ammunition. R-1 against the Alteisen, R-2 against the Weißritter. G2 takes the Hückebein Mk-II. Destroy them." Ingram stated, no hint of surprise in his cold voice.

He probably planned this from the very beginning.

"What?! You can't be serious!" Ryusei exclaimed in disbelief.

"If you don't take this seriously you'll die, kiddo." Excellen interjected cheerfully.

"Did she just call me 'kiddo'?" The teen asked out loud.

"If you want to live, get out of that R-1." Kyousuke suddenly stated coldly.

"Grr! If it's a fight you want, you got one! Let's rock!" The Otaku replied angrily, charging his opponent.

The R-2 and Weißritter immediately started exchanging sniper fire, the two highly accurate marksmen in the pilot seats displaying great accuracy… and excellent dodging skills, considering neither hit the other, apart from the odd glancing hit.

Of course, a sharp observer could tell that the capricious sniper of the ATX-team was deliberately avoiding the R-2's engine block, making it easier for the cold sniper of the SRX-team to dodge.

And of course, for those who understood what engine the R-2 used exactly, that was quite understandable.

On the other end, the Hückebein Mk-II engaged the Grungust Type-2… and Bullet was immediately struck flabbergasted by the lack of response. It didn't counterattack… it didn't even move.

After a short while of confused deliberation, possibly with some conversation somewhere, the young pilot suddenly claimed that his machine was malfunctioning and withdrew from the exercise, seemingly in response to realising Kusuha's lack of willingness to participate.

This decision did not go unnoticed by two certain females.

But whatever attention had been drawn by this was soon diverted to the duel unfolding between the R-1 and the Alteisen.

They circled around, exchanging small arms fire while apart, before charging in, engaging in melee combat.

Finally Ryusei charged in, an empowered fist impacting the Alteisen's left arm, blowing it clean off, while also managing to rend the thick armour of the chest area.

But his victory was short lived, for he had made a grave mistake. He missed the Stake.

Not to mention, he was standing right in front of the Alteisen's Claymore Launchers.

Something the teen became painfully aware of as the hatches burst open, unleashing a veritable rain of bearing rounds.

Then, before his opponent could recover Kyousuke smashed the horn into the R-1, sending it flying with a mighty heave as it sheared an arm off.

Then he charged.

And suddenly Ryusei was reminded of just how much power the Alteisen had, as the Revolving Stake smashed into his R-1 at high speed, the two of them shooting away as the pile-driver was activated, firing all its rounds.

And as the final round was discharged the R-1 was sent flying away, crashing painfully into a building.

Unsurprisingly, it didn't move.

And as if to hammer it home, Ingram's cold voice, albeit with a slight hint of exasperation, declared;

"That's enough."

_**-Break—**_

Weiss sighed as she entered Major Ingram Prisken's office. Mere moments before he had been talking to the SRX and ATX teams about the exercise.

Now he wanted to talk to her.

He hadn't even given her time to meet any of the people in Izu base.

As she looked at the blue-haired man she noted something interesting. She was used to seeing family whose members looked very much alike.

Case in point, hers.

And because of this she noticed how similar Ingram was to Viletta. Similar to such a degree that she would have happily accepted that they were actually twins.

"Weiss Schnee." The Major began. "I have heard that you are quite talented."

She frowned slightly.

"That may be so, Sir. I wouldn't dare claim excellence though, not with pilots like Kyousuke Nanbu or Excellen Browning around." She replied cautiously.

"Don't be so modest. You took down the captain of the Treue all by yourself. An admirable achievement." The heiress was slightly disconcerted by the smirk on his face. "Indeed, I called you here because I was interested in assembling a new squad."

"I would be honoured, Sir."

"Of course you would." He smiled. "I would have you join up with Yang Xiao Long and Blake Belladonna, who are currently in my command, under the leadership of Ruby Rose, who recently joined up with us from the DC."

The blue-haired man's smirk grew at the heiress' shocked expression.

"I take it they are familiar to you?" He asked, a hint of mirth in his voice.

"Yes… they are old friends of mine, before the war with the DC complicated things…" Weiss lied slightly.

The war with the DC had done little to actually cause their complications, apart from the fact Ruby joined them, while the rest of them didn't. Being thrown across worlds on the other hand…

"Then I take it you would have no objection towards this arrangement?"

"No Sir!" She responded smartly.

"Good." He said, any emotions disappearing from his face again. "One last thing, just a small question that has nothing to do with military matters."

The girl straightened up, distrust flaring in her heart.

"Yes?"

"Does the word… 'Aleph' mean anything to you?" He then asked, and it sent shivers up her spine.

She looked at the man disbelievingly.

Or well, Eis did.

Will carelessly responded.

"It means 1… or first…"

'_What are you doing?!'_ Eis exclaimed in their mind.

'_Eh…? S-sorry!'_ The other replied in a panicked manner.

The way the Major's eyes glinted and sharpened as he observed the girl disconcerted them both.

"I see. Thank you, you may go." He then said emotionlessly.

Weiss left quickly.

And behind her an astonished Aleph Barshem, first of the Barshem, relayed a message to his master.

* * *

**Author's notes: If you feel like there's some odd change towards the end of the chapter, that would probably be because the first half or so was written some two weeks ago, but then two vacations came up, and threw my time available off, so I chose not to finish it. Sorry about that. **

**Honestly, I don't feel like I made this part of the story justice. It's a pretty neat moment when you realise you need to fight the ATX-team, or the SRX-team, depending on what route you chose. And the showdown between the R-1 and Alteisen is pretty awesome. Oh well. I would appreciate some reviews, either with feedback, or thoughts on what is going on.**

**I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	34. Chapter 34

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.**

* * *

Weiss Schnee watched in horror as one of her worst (currently) nightmares became true right before her eyes.

In this specific case, it was the long dreaded (for her) meeting between Yang Xiao Long and Excellen Browning. Seeing as Weiss had just arrived, she had no idea what had happened prior, but judging by circumstantial evidence the ATX-team had just finished introducing themselves, and now Excellen was approaching Yang, her eyes most assuredly not directed at the blonde's face.

Then her face broke out into an appreciating, and quite lecherous, smile, and the older, and potentially less mature finally spoke.

"Waow! That's quite impressive for someone no older than our snow angel!"

"And I see you live up to your name as well, Ensign! Wait… snow angel?"

A glimmer of hope and apprehension entered Yang's eyes, presumably as she realised who it likely referred to.

"That's odd… I would have thought she would have rushed to meet with you guys seeing as little Rose here is her 'friend'…" Excellen said with a finger tapping her cheek.

Seeing as the conversation turned towards her, and Yang was realising this, Weiss managed to recover her wits, and took a deep breath in preparation for drawing attention to herself. She managed to get about halfway there, and scan the room a bit, when, by sheer coincidence, Ruby, who by all indications had probably started scanning the room herself when she realised, spotted her.

The sound the younger girl emitted was indescribable, probably due to the fact that it had been moving at speeds normally reserved to speeding vehicles, but all in all the white girl assumed it had been her name.

Because next thing she knew she had been glomped and sent tumbling across the floor, with a warm, yet tear stained cheek rubbing against hers, only coming to stop by a painful impact against a wall, although any damage was minimised and trivialised by her Aura's protection and healing.

Eis wanted to rage, wanted to scream at the little dolt who could have hurt her, especially seeing as most likely anyone other than herself, Yang and Blake would have been seriously injured by something like this. She wanted to push her away angrily in order to hide the embarrassment she felt…

And yet for some reason she couldn't do anything. Will was firmly holding on to control, and basking in the embrace from their partner, whom they hadn't met more than briefly for weeks, if not more, and even then, those times it had been as enemies.

"I've… missed you… Ruby…" She said, and returned the embrace.

This action caused the younger girl to freeze, and shocked both Yang and Blake.

"You know, I was going to question your usage of 'friend', but… seeing this kind of makes me wonder if there's a ship I should be getting on right now?" The buxom brawler said to Excellen.

"Did she just…?" Masaki said, his gaze shifting between the embracing girls and the transient rose-petals that slowly drifted to the ground and disappeared in the wake of Ruby's charge.

Meanwhile Kyousuke's gaze narrowed as he observed the same things that Masaki had.

"I never thought I'd see something like that outside of an anime…" Ryusei added, amazement and wonder in his voice.

"Really? That's what you bring up?" Aya replied, filled with resigned incredulity.

"Ah! What a fine display of friendship! I am jea- filled with envy!" A new, but familiar to Weiss and the ATX-team, voice cut into the room, causing everyone to turn their attention to the newcomer.

It was Shine, her expression filled with wonder and just a hint of envy, and escorted by both a stone-faced Joyce and a surprisingly smug looking Ingram.

Embarrassment filled both Will and Ruby, and they moved apart, coming to attention alongside the rest of the room's military personnel.

"At ease." The blue-haired man's smirk did not subside even then, and this did nothing to set Weiss at ease.

On the contrary, she felt discomfort at this sight, especially considering Will's earlier blunder.

"This is Princess Shine Hausen of the Dukedom of Riksent. After having been targeted by Divine Crusader remnants, she has come here seeking protection." The major's proclamation brought clear sadness to Ruby's face. "Commander Laker has seen fit to accept her request, and she will be staying at this base until the threat has been eliminated."

"Divine Crusader remnants?! Why would they be targeting a little girl!?" Ryusei exclaimed, earning a sharp glare from the Princess, and an elbow in the ribs from Aya.

The Otaku seemed like he was going to complain, but the sharp glare made him realise his mistake, and he kept his mouth shut.

If he was intending to apologise he wasn't given a chance.

"While the Master Sergeant's words were not well chosen, he has a point." Kyousuke interjected. "The reason can be found in the fact that the Princess possesses the ability to see the future, which they apparently desired."

The man's poker face held strong, but there was still a sense of dismissiveness from him.

"Adler… of course." Ruby muttered exasperatedly, a deep seated resigned sadness starting to visibly permeate the girl.

Weiss could only imagine how the girl felt, but even so she put a supportive hand on her shoulder, a gesture likewise mimicked by Yang, while Blake at least came to stand by her.

Of course, this show of support did not go unnoticed, and Weiss could have sworn that Ingram's smugness grew, although his expression remained the same.

That was when it struck her. Chances where he was pleased that he had been right on the money in forming a team of the members of team RWBY. Seeing as he could impossibly have known about that, it must have been pure conjecture that they would work well together…

And right now they were giving strong indication he had been correct. Honestly, that thought gave her some ease of heart. At least part of his smugness most likely came from that, and that meant it was most likely not sinister in any way.

But even so she still couldn't shake that feeling that part of it was connected to their earlier conversation… And she couldn't help but feel that it boded poorly.

_**-Break—**_

As it turned out, Shine seemed to immediately become completely smitten with Rai.

Blake could understand, he was tall, serious, handsome and his noble heritage shone through quite often. He was a perfect 'prince charming', and for a young girl he was probably a walking dream at first sight.

The raven-haired cat-girl had had a rough upbringing, which made her care less for such things, and having come to know the man had further reduced his charm to her.

Not that she particularly disliked him, just that he didn't appeal to her in the romantic sense. Besides, of the many things that might be on that person's mind at any given time, she seriously doubted romance was one of them. That was the sort of air he gave off.

And she could understand that. As a Huntress-in-training and former White Fang member she had met several people of that kind.

Still, she was happy to see Weiss again, and the girls had convened in order to catch up. But it wasn't all fun and games. While they did have a few amusing anecdotes to tell each other, most of their discussions were quite… grim.

The heiress relayed onto Ruby the words entrusted to her by the captain of the Treue squad, which did sadden the girl further, but ultimately it was something she had come to terms with long ago, so she shouldered on.

Although Yang did give her a hug, and Blake could have sworn it looked like Weiss wanted to do the same.

Or not.

Huh. Even for the heiress that was a very quick cycling through looking like she did and like she didn't want to… Not to mention there was something wrong with her eyes…

They shifted between two distinctly different types, but neither were quite Weiss'… they were similar to how she might look at times, but sometimes they were harsher, and sometimes they were softer than what the heiress could normally manage.

Even so, she didn't feel any doubt that this was her teammate and… well… friend. She smelled like Weiss, and as far as the raven-haired Faunus could tell her Aura was the same. She wasn't carrying Myrtenaster, but neither did she, and when queried about it Weiss did mention that it was currently being kept in a box, seeing as it isn't exactly normal to carry a weapon around, that she had easy access to.

While Blake was doing the same, keeping her Gambol Shroud in a container she had easy access to, for exactly the same reason, Yang was still carrying Ember Celica around her wrists, seeing as no one could tell they were weapons, and Ruby, who carried Crescent Rose around in its compacted box form just the way she usually did.

People had still questioned that of course, because it was weird to carry around a metal box on the small of your back, but they usually accepted any given reasonable evasive answer. Of course, their allies were on to the truth, and Ruby had admitted that Latune had figured out the answer pretty quickly seeing as the up scaled version her Guarlion carried was identical in every way, so she had allowed the girl to see it up close.

Of course, Latune wasn't a normal person, having been trained and who knows what else from a young age for military purposes, and hadn't questioned why Ruby carried a weapon like that around.

She had questioned the impossibility of the weapon, but she didn't pry into the matter, and Ruby had said that it seemed the younger girl for now assumed that both versions of the weapon had the same origin.

That wasn't true of course, the original carried by Ruby had been hand crafted by the red Huntress herself from Remnant materials, while the replica wielded by the Guarlion Rose had been crafted from a combination of the engineering genius of both Bian Zoldark and Shu Shirakawa, although the materials seems to have been provided by Professor Shirakawa, and were, according to Masaki, from a place known as La Gias, that from what Blake understood was a place separated from Earth by more than mere distance.

Although he hadn't used the structure that brought the girls to Earth to travel between them, but some other method that his familiars had prevented him from talking about.

Interestingly Weiss said that she had a suspicion as to where there was one on Earth, although she also said she had been unable to confirm it, and that she knew (interesting choice of word) that they were called Crossgates.

Of course, they unfortunately couldn't in good conscience abandon these people at this critical juncture, so they would not attempt to return to Remnant just yet.

Weiss also admitted that an Intelligence officer named Gilliam Yeager had managed to figure out a great deal of the truth about them, and Weiss had given him much of their story. She did on the other hand trust the man, even if she found him mysterious and suspected he had secrets of his own.

Weiss in return had been quite intrigued when she heard about Masaki and his familiars, and had said that she would talk to them further. She also became quite intrigued when she was told about the Prana Converter installed on the Guarlion Rose, since it allowed the machine to have Aura channelled into it and for semblances to be induced into it.

Of course, she also became quite upset that Ruby had done something so reckless.

Luckily, by the time Ingram requested entry into the room, they had already finished with the stuff they wanted to be secretive about.

"Girls, I have come to inform you that you will be forming a new team under Ruby Rose."

Blake was shocked to hear this, even more so that he would be having Ruby lead, and so was the others… except for Weiss. Although… she had been called to talk to the Major before, which was the primary reason she hadn't hurried to meet them, and it stood to reason that she had been called to Izu for this specific purpose, and had therefore been told that reason.

She'd ask for clarification later.

"We have yet to decide upon a name for this new team, and it has yet to be officialised. This is for the sake of streamlining our units, seeing as Belladonna and Xiao Long were removed from the SRX-team and Schnee were never properly assigned beyond 'with the Hiryu'…"

At this point Blake could have sworn she heard the man say "Damn it Euzeth" under his breath, yet there were no outward signs that he had said something like that, so she dismissed the notion.

"And of course, that Ruby Rose, who showed promise as a leader while working for the DC, has no defined position amongst us yet." He then continued.

"Thank you Major. I will do my utmost, for the sake of the Earth Sphere." Ruby, surprisingly, replied quickly and surely.

Maybe due to her time in the DC?

"Good." The man smirked in response.

_**-Break—**_

Aya joined him in the corridor after he had informed the girls.

"Aya. Ruby Rose has expressed interest in the T-Link System. Have her and Weiss Schnee undergo the test."

"Understood Major, but… we are a bit pressed for time, now that we are working on the R-3's adjustments-"

"We can afford the delay. It is important that we know if either possess Psychodrive."

"Understood. It will be done."

"Thank you Aya."

As his poor subordinate moved ahead to make preparations, Ingram sighed deeply.

The time was fast approaching, and he didn't like the prospect of delaying the finishing of the R-3 at all…

Of course, he had no say in the matter…

* * *

**Author's notes: Oh dear, it's been so long since I last updated... But hey, I still exist, and have finally found the time to finish this chapter... Sorry if it's boring, I haven't worked on this for ages thanks to school, and this is just where the story is at the moment. Oh, and if anyone finds any inconsistencies then please do tell. Or if you find any mistakes in general for that matter.**

**I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	35. Chapter 35

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

Ingram looked down at the test results. Negative. Weiss Schnee did not possess Psychodrive. There was on the other hand something else there, that barely registered. He had his suspicions, but it didn't matter. All he needed was to know whatever or not they were Psychodrivers, or had the potential to be one.

"The test is over, Ensign Schnee. You may leave now." Professor Kobayashi said, a hint of impatience over being pulled from the R-3 adjustments present in his voice, even if he was professional enough not to let it show.

"May I know what the test was all about? It seems like you were measuring brainwaves but…" She asked.

"Unfortunately, the exact details are classified. I'm sorry." Ingram replied. "I can only say that you are not able to utilise the T-Link System."

The white-haired girl sighed softly. "I see… Then I will take my leave here."

She was quickly out of the door, and not long after Ruby stepped through, the red-clad girl brimming with curiosity and trepidation.

"Well then Miss Rose, let us get started on the test." The balding man said as he approached her.

"Okay! What do I do?" She responded.

"To start with, take a seat, and wear this helmet." The professor said.

As the girl sat down and Professor Kobayashi made sure everything was in order, Ingram took a moment to regard her.

While all four girls were odd, Ruby Rose were by far the oddest. Youngest, and the least mature, it was still clear that the other three deferred to her quite often. Furthermore, she had apparently caught the eye of both Shu Shirakawa and Bian Zoldark, and they had worked together to provide her with a customised unit.

Certainly it wasn't all that more powerful than the average Guarlion from what their technicians could tell, but possessed a system to boost its speed, and potentially other abilities, significantly. Using this it could match the Cybuster, a machine of otherworldly origin that far outmatched anything the Earthlings could produce.

At least without resorting to borrowed tech.

He shook himself out of his thoughts as Professor Kobayashi completed preparations.

"Well then Miss Rose, please relax, and concentrate." He said as he took position next to Ingram.

For a few moments, nothing happened.

Then, something did happen. The young girl showed a small twinge, and they got the reading they were testing for.

"Link established, Telekinesis α-pulse detected."

_**-Break—**_

"So how'd it go?" Yang asked as Ruby reconvened with the rest of her team.

Blake was reading something, Weiss was looking at something on a terminal and Yang was just lounging about.

"I'm not really sure… It was more straining than I thought it would be…" The youngest girl replied.

This caused all three of the others to look at her oddly.

None of them had found the test straining, but on the other hand it had also gone on longer for Ruby.

"Wait, what do you mean?" Weiss asked, having taken what should have been the same test just before Ruby. "Did something happen?"

"Uhm… yes?" Silver-eyes darted uncertainly between the others. "I have whatever they tested for, I think..."

"What!?" All three of the other girls exclaimed simultaneously.

Yang especially seemed to be reeling for some reason.

"It couldn't be… that and… is…" She muttered.

Ruby looked at her sister uncertainly for a few moments, before some manner of realisation came to her.

She didn't reel quite like her sister, but there certainly seemed to be some disconcertion from whatever revelation it was that had struck her.

The other two wanted to ask what exactly it was, but were interrupted by the PA system.

"All Hagane pilots, report to the briefing room." Some voice rang out through the room.

The sudden call forced the girls to abandon their current lines of thought, seeing as they had received no information about any briefing during the day, meaning something had come up.

Which never boded well.

They hurriedly dropped what they were doing, Blake marking where she was in the book and Weiss saving and closing whatever it was she had been doing.

When they arrived at the briefing room they found a distinctly unsettled Tetsuya, an unhappy looking Daitetsu, Ingram being as cold as always, a highly unhappy Hans, and Laker also managing not to show too much emotion.

Simultaneously most of their motley band arrived, surprisingly enough at almost the same time.

As they all settled down, with a certain air of unease and worry present amongst them, Ingram cleared his throat.

"About two hours ago an unidentified structure dubbed the White Star appeared near Sector L5." He started, while an image of a large white spherical object. "It's estimated to be about the size of a space colony and artificial."

"The reconnaissance unit that took this image was soon after shot down by Aerogater forces." Laker continued. "And not long after that the Hiryu Kai was engaged in its vicinity by a large number of Aerogater forces and forced to retreat. We therefore surmise that it is an Aerogater mobile base."

"The Hagane has been ordered to head to orbit and rendezvous with the Hiryu Kai in response to this threat." Daitetsu added.

"We leave in two hours, so finish preparations till then. That is all." Tetsuya concluded.

Yang turned towards Ruby.

"So… do you think it belongs to the Aerogaters?" She asked.

Several others around them started paying attention.

Ruby had been in the favour of Bian Zoldark, the man who had warned about this invasion, after all.

"Honestly, I don't know. There was nothing like this amongst what we were told about the coming threat, but judging by the information they gave us, it's probable." The former DC member responded.

She knew that it was likely the Aerogaters would deploy humanoid mobile weapons eventually, since it was in order to counter those that the PTs, AMs and Special Units had been created.

At least that was what had heard from Bian, and other people in the DC.

She never really got around to talking to Professor Shirakawa now that she thought about it. Even when she had gotten to spend time with the man, he had never said much, and more often than not it felt like she knew less about the man after every encounter, rather than more.

Honestly, she felt like she had learned more about the man from Masaki than he himself.

Except that one time he had thrown her a treat and told her that he too possessed power. She realised that he wasn't talking about any kind of power she herself possessed, but some other power…

He had even let out a hint of it once, while they were having a small conversation. It reminded her of something. A power she had experienced at another time and place, first on that fateful rooftop, and then again in the tower.

"Ehm, Ruby?"

She was brought out of her runaway side-tracking by her sister, who was waving a hand in front of her eyes.

"Sorry!" She exclaimed, a bit louder than she had wanted.

"Are you alright? You spaced out for quite some time there." Weiss asked.

"Yeah, I just got lost in this really big side-track…" The red-haired girl replied.

"Anything you want to talk about?" Surprisingly it was Latune that said this.

Ruby gave the younger girl a slightly bitter smile. "No, no, It's fine."

While the young genius was hardly convinced, she let it slide. When it came to things that you didn't to talk about, she had quite a few of her own after all.

It seemed that during her lapse most of the others had left the room, although a few still remained, all currently looking at her.

Most notably the slightly more distant Kyousuke, whose gaze seemed to bore deep into her soul… Or something.

"Would Weiss be here?" Someone suddenly asked, saving her from the gaze.

They all turned to regard the newcomer, who surprisingly enough turned out to be Princess Shine.

"Princess?" Both Weiss and Latune asked at the same time.

Hearing this, the young princess turned towards them, quickly finding Weiss, seeing as the heiress' pure white hair stands out quite a bit.

"Weiss! I have been searching for you. I wanted to speak with you a little, seeing as we haven't spoken since arriving here." She said.

"You know the princess Weiss?" Ruby asked.

"We became acquainted when we rescued her." Weiss responded. "Still… I don't know if we have time…"

"You have about an hour, maybe a little bit more. There isn't much for you to prepare anyway." Kyousuke suddenly interjected.

"Hmm… Alright then. Let's have a bit of a talk, shall we?" The heiress said in response to this. "Let me introduce you, these are my friends, Yang, Blake and Ruby." She indicated each person.

"It's ni- a pleasure to meet you." The young blonde said, curtsying slightly.

"Nice to meet you." Blake said, inclining her head slightly.

"Nice to meet you!" Ruby said, waving cheerfully.

"Did she just- Right, nice to meet you!" Yang started, but stopped herself and just simply responded.

"So these are your friends? I must say that I'm surprised." Shine said, eyeing the girls.

"Well, we probably wouldn't have been friends if we weren't-" The red-haired girl said, but was interrupted by Weiss discreetly jabbing her with an elbow.

"We met in school." She informed.

"I see. Once again I find myself envious." The princess said, a certain air of wistfulness entering her features.

"Anyways, I'll head back, get preparations done." Yang said and turned to leave. "See you on the Hagane!"

"I'll go as well." Blake followed up, following her partner.

"What about you Ruby?" Weiss asked her partner, who had yet to take her leave.

"Mind if I join you?" Ruby said, surprising Weiss.

"I do not mind." Shine answered, a slight hint of excitement now coming to her. "If so, do you want to join as well Latune?"

"Eh? Well…" Latune seemed a bit unsure, but after some hesitation she nodded shyly. "Sure…"

_**-Break—**_

She stared down in disappointment as the black "beast" dissolved into black smoke, cloven in half by her sword.

Really? So many Neshamah, and this was the best they could do? She was disappointed. No, worse, she was downright infuriated.

Certainly it was large, and the bone plating was a cute addition, but it was o so woefully insufficient, both in durability and power. It couldn't even begin to strain her barrier, much less cause her any actual distress. An affront to the power of her master.

She brought a hoof down upon the smaller "beasts" scrambling underfoot absentmindedly.

There were far too many of them, she can't reach her master due to their interference…

She might need some help. Perhaps somewhere around here she could find some still faithful…

Maybe even one of **them**…

Yes, with the help of one of them this would be so much easier…

She took to the skies once more, a few annoying oversized birds becoming smashed against her barrier.

While she wasn't certain exactly where to look, she might as well start with a bird's eye view…

* * *

**Author's notes: Well, this didn't go quite as well as I would have liked, this chapter isn't quite as long as I would have liked. I hope it's ******decent** at least. I hope you will tell me if you feel I'm doing something stupid, as long as you're constructive in your criticism.**

**So I realised something while writing this. I don't think I've properly mentioned what Ruby and Weiss are wearing. I know I haven't said anything useful on Ruby's current wardrobe, that's for sure. Well, Weiss is wearing a standard issue EFA uniform, while I after some deliberation decided that Ruby is actually wearing a DC officer's uniform, like then one Elzam and Tempest are wearing. This is mainly because I feel it would be kind of odd if they were wearing their casual clothes at the moment.**

**I hope you enjoyed and that you have a nice day.**


	36. Chapter 36

**Disclaimer: I own neither RWBY nor Super Robot Wars.  
**

* * *

"So this is space. I have to say, it's nicer looking than I thought it would be." Yang said as she and the other members of team RWBY peered out into space from one of the Hagane's viewports.

"The countless stars, the shiny blue and green ball that is the Earth… there certainly is a certain beauty to it all." Blake added, appreciating the view.

"Oh yeah, this is your first time out here, isn't it?" Ruby said, a small and slightly melancholic smile forming on her lips.

"Yeah, it is. You've been to space before sis?" The blonde asked.

"Yes. She has." Weiss answered, her expression matching the younger girl's.

It didn't take long for the other two to realise at least some of the reasons behind this, and the implications of Weiss affirming it in this manner.

Yang sighed and did a light facepalm as she realised that she should have realised this was quite likely, even if it had never been outright stated by either of the two.

"Still… I wonder how Leona is doing?" Ruby then suddenly mused, staring off into space.

"Leona?" The older sister queried. "Who's that?"

"Leona?" A new voice joined in. "You wouldn't happen to be talking about Leona Garstein?"

The girls turned around to find Rai approaching, a hint of a complicated expression on his face.

"Lieutenant Rai, you know her?" Blake inquired.

"Yes, I am talking about your cousin. I met her when I accompanied the Treue for a short while, and I was wondering how she was doing right now…" The red Huntress answered. "It's just… I have a bad feeling…"

"Hmm…" The sniper with a chilly exterior seemed to become lost in thought for a few moments. "Certainly, all things considered, she might just have lost her way after all that has happened…"

Yang's expression was equal measures confusion and surprise, while the surprise on Blake's face was slowly changing into one of horrible suspicion as she started realising why both Ruby and Weiss seemed to have become even more melancholic, Weiss especially so.

And then Blake remembered…

"The Treue squad… they were all wiped out during the final battle with the UCC main fleet… weren't they?" She said.

"Leona was never part of that battle… she was sent away to help with rebuilding Elpis…" Ruby said. "At least that's how I understood it…"

"Problem is… she was a proud soldier of the Treue… her loyalty to the cause was no lesser than any of the other member's…" Rai added, trailing off, but the others understood where he, and Ruby, were going.

Well, except for Yang, who was busy trying to digest the information that was being thrown around.

Finally though, she reached a conclusion.

"So! What's the Hiryu like Weiss?!" She exclaimed in a graceless effort to change the subject.

The others present looked at her, flabbergasted at the action. Then after a short while a slight chuckle could be heard, breaking them out of their surprise.

Only for the girls to become surprised again as they realised it came from Rai, the normally cold and stern man who otherwise seemed incapable of such displays having a small albeit visible smile as at least a sliver of amusement seeped out of his features.

"Fu… I'll leave you girls to your conversation. It seems I contributed to causing a poor mood to develop, so I'll apologise." He then said, moving to leave with a small wave, his amusement fading back into the usual frigidity. "I need to go check up on my own team, so I'll take my leave now."

"Don't worry! I'm the one who started on that track!" Ruby returned, a hint of distress remaining in her voice and on her features. "We'll see you later!"

For a few moments, it seemed like Rai might have smiled again, but then he disappeared through a door, so they didn't have any time to truly see if such was the case.

"You know, I am actually curious about the Hiryu. You served aboard her, so you should have an impression, right Weiss?" Yang said, scratching her cheek with an embarrassed smile.

The white Huntress sighed and looked out into space, clearly reminiscing.

"It's a nice ship… it has a lot in common with the Hagane… They are similar in size and firepower… has the same type of main propulsion… The interiors are pretty different though…" She smiled awkwardly. "I guess it has to do with the fact it was built as an exploration vessel originally… but the hallways are slightly different… The captain… Lefina Enfield… is also a great person… kind, gentle… beautiful…"

The heiress' smile turned slightly brighter before she suddenly winced slightly, to the point where the rest of her team barely caught it at all. Keyword being barely.

"Weiss? Are you okay?" Ruby asked, genuine concern gracing her features.

For a few seconds the white-haired girl seemed slightly transfixed, but then suddenly she waved her partner's concern away.

"I'm fine." She said with a small huff, before turning away and staring into space again, seeming annoyed at something.

This continued for several moments, after which Yang spoke up:

"Wait, what? What was that?" She said, confusion plain on her face. "For a few moments I could have sworn- You know what, never mind."

"Hmm… You could have sworn what?" A new voice said as Excellen's face popped up next to Yang's. "Could it be you sensed it as well?"

"Well… Yeah, but it's completely gone now, so I feel like I might have imagined it…" The buxom Huntress said, completely unperturbed by Excellen's sudden appearance or proximity.

Blake didn't take it quite as well.

"Ensign Excellen?! When did you get here?!" She exclaimed.

"Hmm…? Just now. My senses tingled and I headed over here, but it disappeared." The more arbitrary sniper said with a pout. "I had hoped to find something interesting…" She trailed off, seemingly unhappy, but then she suddenly smiled. "Although I guess I did find something interesting!" She then suddenly said, looking at Yang.

"Yeah! I guess we have more in common than I thought!" The yellow Huntress replied.

As this was going on Ruby inched closer to the rest of her team.

"Guys…" She whispered. "I don't know why, but I feel like I'm witnessing something terrifying and I can't figure out why!"

_**-Break—**_

As the Hagane reached the rendezvous point it stopped. The Hiryu wasn't there yet, so they would have to wait for it.

When they had started approaching the point Ruby had joined a few of the other pilots on the bridge, mainly team leaders.

They were on guard for any signs of movement from the Aerogaters, but there was none.

"Strange." Kyousuke remarked.

"They scouted us out well with their bugs and spiders already, so what are they waiting for?" Tetsuya added.

"Who knows? We cannot do much more than keep our guard up and wait." Daitetsu interjected, thoughtfully tapping the armrest of his seat with his pipe.

While he wouldn't dream of smoking on the ship's bridge, he still had it with him, as the familiar act of holding it in his hand or keeping it in his mouth as he would while he was actually smoking helped calm his nerves and let him focus.

"Still, I don't like letting the enemy take the initiative, not since…" Ruby said, trailing off as she realised she shouldn't mention any events that took place in Remnant.

Even as it was she saw Kyousuke gain yet another suspicion. She wanted to tell these people, but for now the girls had agreed that since they hoped to be able to return to Remnant after this was all over, it might be better not to say anything to avoid complicating matters.

Major Gilliam Yeager knew quite a bit of their story according to Weiss, who said she had told him after he had successfully deduced that they were not of this world. On top of that Weiss believed that the man might also not be of this world, although in that case he didn't come from Remnant.

"Certainly, giving the enemy the initiative will always be painful, but sometimes you have no choice." Daitetsu said, interrupting Ruby's musings. "When that happens, you will have to prepare to withstand their assault, and look to take the initiative away from them. But at the moment we cannot afford a careless attack on their fortress, not while we remain ignorant of the enemy's true strength."

"I know Captain… I understand that. It's just-" The young girl replied.

"Don't fret too much about it, you are still young." The grizzled man said, interrupting her. "You'll learn…" He sighed. "Of course, it would probably be better if you didn't have too…"

"Sir!" Eita exclaimed, the operator interrupting everyone's musings. "The Hiryu has arrived."

True to his words, the Hiryu had indeed arrived, stopping a relatively short distance away from the Hagane.

"I am Lieutenant Colonel Lefina Enfield of the Hiryu Custom. Thank you for waiting." Came a message from the Hiryu, accompanied by an image of her on a view screen.

"I am Captain Daitetsu of the Hagane." Daitetsu replied.

"It's been a long time Captain. Space suits you." Sean said from his position behind Lefina.

"Indeed, it's good to see you again." The old captain replied.

"I hear there are quite a few beautiful women on the Hagane." The other man continued. "I am looking forward to the full tour…"

"Um… XO? What do you mean by that?" Lefina said, a clear look of innocent confusion gracing her face.

"Do not mind me. I am merely talking to myself." The XO replied.

"Huh. Is that the Cybuster?" Ryusei said.

And indeed, flying, or floating, just a little bit ahead of the Hiryu was the Cybuster. Masaki had left rather abruptly at some point, chasing after Shu or some such. So the people aboard the Hagane were a little bit surprised to see it with the Hiryu all of a sudden.

Suddenly warning claxons started blaring, interrupting the conversation.

"What is it?!" Tetsuya exclaimed, looking over towards Eita.

"An object is approaching at high speed!" The operator responded.

"An Aerogater?" The Hagane's XO said.

"N-negative! It's the DC… approaching head on!" Came the response.

"All hands! Battle station 1!" Daitetsu barked out, sending everyone running.

"Launch the PT units at once!" Lefina exclaimed in turn.

Even if it was the Captain of the Hiryu that had given the order, the pilots of the Hagane heeded it anyways, and it wasn't long before they had spread out before the two battleships.

"Why would they only send one?" Kuro questioned.

"Who knows? But someone that gutsy is probably a commanding officer." Masaki replied.

"A commanding officer… what do you think Ruby?" Yang followed up.

"This reading… that size-class and that speed…" Ruby mused. She could only think of one machine that matched.

As such, she wasn't as surprised when a mech shaped like a girl appeared before them. And it honestly did look like an almost 25 metres tall girl in white and gold armour, with long flowing pinkish purple hair and a pair of white wings that vaguely resembled feathers.

The Valsione, sister unit, no pun intended, to the Valsion. Created by Bian Zoldark specifically for use by his daughter after she refused the Valsion, stating that it was too intimidating.

Anyone who said that Bian Zoldark didn't dote on his daughter was clearly poorly informed on the matter. One could easily say that he doted on her too much.

"W- what is that?!" Weiss exclaimed.

"It looks like… an armoured girl…" Rai said.

"I- It's… So cute!" Ryusei suddenly exclaimed.

"And yet he doesn't even bat an eyelid at any of us." Aya said with a sigh.

"So, what is that Ruby?" Kyousuke queried, assuming, correctly, that Ruby might know what it was that had appeared before them.

"It's-" She started answering.

But...

"I am Ryune Zoldark! Daughter of Bian Zoldark, the man you killed! Hagane, I come seeking vengeance!"

* * *

**Author's notes: Seeing as school ended a week ago, I feel like it was about time I got this out. I tried to get it done sooner but... that didn't happen. I'm a bit uncertain about this chapter, although that is nothing new. Also, enter the being that probably appears in Ryusei's wet dreams. And I don't mean Ryune. Well, Aschen probably also appears on that list after Moon Dwellers but... that's rather irrelevant for this story. For now.**

**Speaking of which, I have been, on multiple occasions, asked about stuff like ACE:R or Endless Frontier. And honestly, for the sake of not adding another... I don't know, hundred chapters or something, this story is promising to become way too long as is, and because I haven't played ACE:R or Endless Frontier Exceed (although that could be rectified)... Well, the answer is no. Team RWBY will not partake in those events. Dark Prison on the other hand... maybe...although I haven't actually played it either, much to my chagrin. Shu is after all my favourite character.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed, and that you have a nice day.**


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